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THE LIVES AND

OPINIONS OF

EMINENT

PHILOSOPHERS

Diogenes Laertius

L/iyiliiUU by <jOO^lc

MARSHALL MONTGOMERY
COLLECTION

Montgomery ^

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BOHK'S CLASSICAL LIBRAKi'.

DIOGENES LAEBTIUS.

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THE

LIVES AND OPINIONS

EMINENT PHILOSOPHERS

DIOGENES LAEETIUS.

LITERALLT TBAHBLATBD

By a D, TONGB, B.A.

LONDON:
HENRY G. BOHN, YORK STREET, COVENT GARDEN.

MDOOOLIII.

LONDON:

UADooit AMD aoir, PKfiiTCBfl^ cMsritU m«vr, rimBivv.

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CONTENTS.

Intboductios

BOOK I.

Preface . . .

THATfcES • • •

Solon .
Chilo

PiTTACCS

Bias

Gleobul'ub •
Pebiakpeb •

Ahacharsis, the Scythian
Myson
Epimenides
Phsbeotdes •

BOOK II,

Anaximander
Anaximemes

CONTEMT&

Archelaus .

SOCBATES

Zemophon .

2Ei8CHINE8

Aristippus •
Phcedo .

EUOUDES .

Stilpo .
Crito
Simon .

GlAUGO
SiMIAS .

Cedes

M£N£D£MUB

. . 62
63
. 76
79
. 81
96
. 97
100
. 103
104
. 104
105
. 105
105

BOOK III.

Plato

. iia

BOOK IV.

Speubippus

Xenockaies

P0L£M0 .

Crates
Cbantob

Arcesilaus .

BlON

Laoydes
Cabneades

ClJTOMACHDS

154
158
160
161
163
171
176
177
179

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CIONTBNT&

BOOK V.

PAQ9.

Aristotle . . . . 181

Thkophbastus .... 194

Stbato . 30a

liTCON . . . . .205

Demetrius .... 209

H£&AGLID£B 218

BOOK VI.

AimSXHSNES

DiOOEMis

MONIMUS

Onesichitus .
Obaxes .
Mbtbocuis .

HiPPARCHIA

Menippus . • .

MSK£D£1CU8

BOOK VII.

Zbno ..... d69

Abiston ..... 818

Herillus . , • . * . 320

DioMYSius .... 821

Glbahthes ..... 822
Spmrus . . ... 826

Chbysippus. , . . . 327

217

. ^tu

248
. 249

249
. 268

254
. 256
257

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CONTSNTS.

BOOK VIII.

pvthagobas
Empedoci^s

EPIGHABIfUS . • .

Abghytab

Alcm^on

HlFFASUS

Philoiaus

EUDOXUS •

BOOK IX.

liERACLlTUS

Xemophanes
Pabmenideb ,

MEII88T56

Zeno, the Eleatic
Leucipfus .
Demoobitdb
Pbotaoobab .

DlO(3EXES, UI-' ArOLLONIA

Anaxaschds

PXBBHO .
TiMON

BOOK X.

Epigubus

FBEFACE.

DiooEKES, the author of the following work» was a nodTe
(as is generally helieved) of Laerte, in Oilida, from whMi

circumstance he derived the cognomen of Laertius. Little is
known of him personally, nor is even the age in which he lived
▼ery clearly ascertained. But as Plutarch, Sextus Empixious,
and Satuminus are among the writers whom he quotes, he is
generally believed to have lived near the end of the second
century of our era ; although some place him in the time
of Alexander Seyerus, and others as late as Gonstantine. . His
work consists of ten hooks, variously called : The Lives of
Philosophers, A History of riiilosophy, and The Lives of
Sophists. From internal evidence (iii. 47, 29), we learn
that he wrote it for a nohle lady (aocordihg to some,
Airia ; according to others, Julia, the Empress of Severus)^
who occupied herself with the study of philosophy, and es-
pecially of Plato.

Diogenes Laertius divides the philosophy of the Greeks iftto
the Ionic, heginning with Anaximander^ and ending with
Theophrastus (in which dass, he includes the Socratic philo-
sophy and all its various ramifications) ; and the Italian,
beginning with Pythagoras, and ending with Epicurus, in
which he includes the Eleatics, as also Heraclitus and the
Sceptics. From the minute consideration which he devotes
to Epicurus and his system, it has been supposed that he
himself belonged to that schooL
His work is the chief source of information we possess

' } B

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concerning the history of Greek philosophy, and .is the
foundntioii of nearly all the modem treatises on that sob-
ject ; some of the most important of vhioh are little more

than translations or amplifications of it. It is valuable,
as containing a copious collection of anecdotes illustrative of
the life and manners of the Greeks ; bat he has not always
been yery carefal in his selection, and in some parts ^ere
is a confusion in his statements that makes them scarcely
intelligible. These faults have led some critics to consider
the work as it now exists merely a mutilated abridgment of the
original Bresleus, who in the thirteenth century, wrote a
Treatise on the Lives and Manners of the Philosophers,
quotes many anecdotes and sayings, which seem to be de-
rived from Diogenes, but which are not to be found in. our
present text; whence Schneider oondudes that he had a veiy
different and far more complete copy than has come down
to us.

The text used in the following translation is chiefly that of
Huebner, as published at Leipsic, kj>, 1828.

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LIVES AiiD OPINIONS

EMINENT PHILOSOPHERS.'

BOOK 1.

♦

INTKOJDUGTION.

I. Some say that the study of philosophy originated with
the barbarians. In that among the Persians there existed
the Magi,* and among the Babylonians or Assyrians the
Chalda^i,! among the Indians the Gymnosophistse^ ^i^d among
the Celts and Gauls men who were odled Druids § and

* " The religion of the ancient Pei-sians was the worship of fire or of
the elements, in which fire was symbolical of the T)city. At a later
period, in the time of the Greeks, the ancient worship was changed into
the adoration of the stars (Sabseism), especially of the sun and of the
morning ster. This religion was diatingiiiahed by a simple and majeetie
flliatacter. Its prieets were called KagL" — TtrntmanCt Mmmd if l&e
H'sfori/ of P/iilosophi/f Jntrod. % 70.

t " The Chaldeans were devoted to the worship of the stars and to
astrology ; the nature of their climate and country disposing them to
it The worship of tiie stars was Tevived by them and widely disBemi-
oated eyen subsequently to the Christian enL**— /M. § 71.

* Cicero speaks of those who in India an accounted philosophers,
Uving naked and enduring the greatest severity of winter without be-
traying any feeling of pain, and displaying the same insenaibihty when
exposed to the Haines." — Tunc. QuwsL v. 27.

§ ** The religion of the Britons was one of Uie mosfe eonsideraUe
parts of their goyemment* and HhB Druids who were their priests, pos-
sessed great authority among them. Besides ministering at the altar,
and directing all religious duties, they presided over the ediioation of
youth ; they possessed both the civil and crimiTml juriBdictiun. they
decided aU controversies among states as well as among private persons,
and whoeyer refused to submit to their decree was exposed to toe most
seyere penalties. The sentenoe of ezeommnnioation was prononnced

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LIVES OF EMINENT PHILOSOPHERS.

Semuotliei. as Aristotle relates in his book on Magic, and
Sotion in the twenty- third book of his Succession of Philoso-
phers. Besides those men there were the Phoenician Ochus,
the Thracian Zamo^ps,* and the Libyan Atlas. For the

agvut lum ; he was forMdden aeoesB to tike aaetifioes of publie worship ;
he was debarred all intercourBe with hia fellow dtiseoDB even in the
common afiiuni of life : hiB company was universally ahumied as profane

and dangerous, he was refused the protection of law, and death itself
became an acceptable relief from the misery and infamy to which he
waa exposed. Thus the bonds of government^ which were naturally
loose among that rude and turbulent people, were happily corroborated
by the terrors of their supenrfcition.

" No species of superstition was ever more terrible than that of the
Dniids ; besides the several penalties which it was in the power of the
tcclesiasticH to inflict in this world, they inculcated the eternal trans- •
migration of souls, and thereby extended their authority aa far as the
fears of their timorous votaries^ They })ractiBed thinr rites in ^dark
groves or other wicret recesseSy and in order to throw a greater mystery
over their religion, they communicated their doctrines only to the
initiated, and strictly forbade the committing of them to writing, lest
they should at any time be exposed to the examination of the profane
and vulgar. Human sacrifices were practised among them ; the spoils
of war were often deroted to their divimiieB, and they punished with
tiiie severest tortures whoever dared to secrete any part of the con-
secrated offering. Tlies»e treasures they kept secreted in woods and
forests, secured by no other guard than the tcnToi-s of their religion ;
and their steady conquest over human avidity may be regarded as more
signal than their prompting men to the most extraordmary and most
violent efforts. No idohrirous worship ever attained saoh an aseendant
over mankind as that of the ancient Qauls and Britons. And the
Romans after their conquest, finding it impossible to reconcile those
nations to the iaw^ and institutions of their masters while it maintained
its authority, were at last obliged to abolish it by penal statutes, a
violence which had noTer in any other instance been reiorted to by
those tolerating conquerors." — JBume'tt History of England, chap. 1. § 1.

* Zamobds» or Zidmoxisy so called from the bearskin (^aXfiot:) in
which he was wrapped as soon as he was bom, was a G( tnn, and
a slave cf Pythagoras at Samos ; having been emancijmted by his
master, he travelled into E^ypt ; and on his return to his own country
he inticoduced the ideas which he had acquired m his travels on the
subject of civilisation, religion, and the immortality of the souL He
was nuide priest of the chief deity among the Oet», and was afterwards
himself worshij^ped as a divine person. He was said to have lived in a
Bul)ternineous cavern for three years, and after that to have re-appeared
among his countrymen. Herodotus, however, who records these stories
(iv. 95), expresses his disbelief of them, piladne him before the time of
Pythagoras bj many years, and seems to indine to the belief that he
was an indigenous Qetan deity.

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INTRODUCTION,

Epfyptians say that Vulcan was the son of NiUis, and that
he was the author of philusu^)hy, in wliich those who were
eapecially eminent were called liis priests aud prophets.

II. From his age |i>,that of Alexander, king of the Mace-
donians were forty-eight thousand eight hundred and sixty-
three years, and during this time there were three hundred
and seventy-three eclipses of the sun, aud eight hundred aud
thirty-two eclipses of the moon.

Afjain, from the time of the Magi, the first of whom was
Z oroaster the Persian, to that of the fall of Troy, Hermodorus
tlie Platonic philosopher, in his treatise on Mathematics,
calculates that fifteen thousand years elapsed. But Xanthus
the Lydian says that the passage of the Hellespont l»y
Xerxes took place six thousand yeai-s after the time of
Zoroaster,'^ aud that after him there was a regular 8ucc^sion

* " The real time of Zoroaster is, as may be supposed, very un-
certain, but he is said by some eminent "writera to have lived in
the time of Darius Hystaspes; though others^ apparently on better
grounds, place him at a ymry far earner date. He is not mentioned
by Herodotus at all. Hia native country too is very imcertain. Some
writers, among whom are CteuBB and Ammian, call him a Bactrian,
while Porphyry speaks of him as a Chaldaean, and PUny as a native
of Proconnesiis ;— Niebuhr considers him a purely mythical j)er-
fionage. The great aud fundamental article of the system (of the
Persian theology) was the celebrated doctrine of the two principles ;
a bold and injudicious attempt of Eastern philoeophy to reconcile
the existence of moral and physical evil with, the attributes of a benefi-
cent Creat^^r and governor of the world. The first and original being,
in whom, or by whom the universe exists, is denominated, in the writ-
ings of Zoroaster, Time wit/tout bound*, .... From either the
bmid or the inteOigent operatioa of this infinite Time^ which beam but
too near an affinity to the Chaoa of the Ghreeki^ the two secondary but
active prinri])les of the universe were from all eternity ])roduced ;
Onnusd aud Ahriiiiaii, each of them possessed of the powers of creation,
but each disposed by his invariable nature to exercise them with dififerent
designs ; the principle of good is eternally absorbed in light, the prin*
d|de of e^il is eternally buried in daikneaa. The wise bcoievolence of
Ormusd formed man capable of virtue, and abundantly provided his
fair habitation with the materials of happiness. By his vigilant provi-
dence the motion of the planets, the order of the seasons, and the
temperate mixture of the elements are preserved. But the maker of
Ahnman has long aince ^ieraed Ormutii Eyg, or in other words, has
▼iolated the harmony of his works. Since that fatal irruption, the most
minute articles of good and efil are iatlmatefy intermingled and agitated
together ; the rankest poisons' spring up among the inost salutary
plants j delugeSp earthquakes, and conflagratious attest the conflict of

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LIVES OF EMINENT PHILOSOPHERS.

of Magi under tlie names of Ostanes and Astrampsychos and
Gobrjas and Fazatas, until the destraction of the Pezsian
empire by Alexander.

III. But those who say this, ignorantly impute to the
barbarians the merits of the Greeks, from whom not only
all philosophy, but even the whole human race in reality
originated. For Mussbus was bom among the Athenians,
and Linus among the Thebans ; and they say that the former,
who was the son of Eumolpus, was the first person who taught
the system of the genealogy of the gods, and who invented
the spheres ; and that he taught that all things originated
in one thing, and when dissolved returned to that same thing;
and that he died at Phalerum, and that this epitaph was
inscribed on his tomb : —

Phalerum's soil beneath this tomb coutaioB
Muaseus dead, Eumolpus' darling son.

And it is from the father of Mussus that the &mi]y called
Eumolpidffi among the Athenians derive their name. They
say too that Linus was the son of Mercury and the Muse
Urania ; and that he invented a system of Cosmogony, and
of the motions of the sun and moon, and of the genera-
tioii of animals and fruits; and the following is the be-'
ginning of his poem,

There was a time when all the present world

Uprose at once.

From which Auaxagpras derived his theory, when he said that

nature, and the little world of man is perpetually shaken by vice and
misfortune. While the rest of mankind are led away captives in the
ehaiDB of their infernal enemy, the fidthM Persian idone reeerves hia
rdigious adoration for his friend and protector Ormusd, and fights
under his banner of light, in the full confidence that he shall, in the
last da}^ share the glory of his triumph. At that dt'cisive period, the
enlightened wisdom of goodness will render the power of Ormusd
superior to the fariona nuuioe of hia rival ; Ahriman and his followers,
diaaimed and subdued, will sink into their native darkness, and virtue
will maintain the eternal peace and harmony of the universe. . , .
. . As a legislator, Zoroaster " discovered a liberal concern for the
public and private happiness seldom to be found among the visionary
schemes of superstition. Fasting and celibacy, the common means of
purohamng the divine favour, ne oondemna with abhorrence^ as a
criminal rejection of the best gifts of Providence."-- Cfibbof^ DtclvM
aatd FaU of the iSomon JSmpin, c viii.

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INTRODnCfnOH.

all things had been prodaced at the same time, and that, then
intellect had come and arranged them all in order.

Th^ say, moreover, that Linus died in Euboea, having been
shot with an arrow bj Apollo, and that this epitaph was set
over him : —

The Theban Linus sleeps beneath this ground,
Urania's son with ibirest gailanda crown'd.

lY. And thus did philosophy arise among the Greeks, and
indeed its very name shows that it has no connection with the
barbarians. But those who attribute its origin to thorn, intro-
duce Orpheus the Thracian, and say that he was a philosopher,
and the most ancient one of all. But if one ought to call a
man who has said such things about the gods as he has said, a
philosopher, I do not know what name one ought to give to
mm who has not scrupled to attribute all sorts of human feel-
ings to the gods, and even such discreditable actions as are but
rarqly spoken of among men ; and tradition relates that he
was murdered by women ;* but there is an inscription at Dium
in Macedonia, s^ing that he was killed by lightning, and it
runs thus :—

Here the bard buried by the Muses lies,
Tile Timurian Oipheus of the goldeu lyre ;

Whom mighty Jove, the Sovereign of the skies,
Bemoved mim earth by liia dread Ughtnlqg^a fin,

y . Bat they who say that philosophy had its rise among
the barbarians, give also an account of the different systems
prevailing among the various tribes. And they say that the
Gymnosophists and the Druids philosophize, delivering their
apophthegmns in enigmatical language, bidding men worship
the gods and do no evil, and practise manly virtue.

• This ia the account given by Virgil —

' Spretas Cicouum quo muuere matres
Iittar sacra Deittm noetumique oigia Bacofai,
DiBeerpftumlatos juvenemspanere per agios. — Gioiioiv.520.

Whieh Dry den translates —

The Thracian matrons who the youth accus'd,
Of love disdainM and marriage rites refus'd ;
With furies and nocturnal orgies fir'd,
At length against his sacred Ufe conspir'd ;
Whom eir^ the savage beasts had spared thej Idll'd,
And strewed his mangled limbs about the field.

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8 LIVES OF EMINENT PHILOSOPHERS.

VI. Accordingly Clitarchus, in his twelfth hook, says that
the Gymiiosophists despise death, and that the Chaldffians
study astronomy and the science of soothsaying — that the Magi
occupy themselves ahout the service to he paid to the gods, and
aV)out sacrifices and prayers, as if they were the only people to
whom the deities listrii : and that they deliver accounts of the
existence and generation of the gods, saying that they are fire,
and earth, and water ; and they condemn the use of images,
and above all thin^^s do tliey condemn those who say that the
gods ^e male and female ; they speak much of justice, and
fJiink it impious to destroy the bodies of the dead by fire ; they
idlow men to marry their mothers or their daughters, as So-
tion tells us in his twenty-tbird book ; they study the arts of
soothsaying and divination, and assert that the gods reveal
their will to them by those sciences. They teach also that the
air is full of phantoms, which, by emanation and a sort of eya-
poiatlon, glide into the sight of those who have a clear percep-
tion; they forbid any eictiavagance of omament, and the ^use
of gold ; their garments are white, then: beds are made of leaves,
and vegetables are their food, "with cheese and coarse bread ;
they use a rush for a staff, the top of which they run into the
cheese, and so taking up a piece of it they eat it Of all kinds
of magical divination they are ignorant, as Aristotle asserts in
his book on Magic, and Dinon in the fifth book of his Histories.
And tins writer says, that the name of Zoroaster being inter*
preted means, a sacrilice to the stars ; and Hermodorus makes
the same statement. But Aristotle, in the first book of bis
Treatise on Philosophy, says, that the Magi are more ancient
than the Egyptians ; and that according to them there are two
principles, a good demon and an evil demon, and that the
name of the one is Jupiter or Oromasdes, and that of the other
Pluto or Arimanius. And Hermippus gives the same account
in the first hook of his Historj^ of the Magi ; and so does
Eudoxus in his Period ; and so does Tlieopompus in the eighth
hook of his Historj^ of the Affairs of Philip ; and this last
writer tells us also, that according to the Magi men will have
a resurrection and be immortal, and that what exists now will
exist hereafter under its own present name ; and Eudemus of
Rhodes coincides in this statement. But Hecatfeus says, that
according to their doctrines the gods also are beings who have
been bom. But Clearchus the Solensian, in his Treatise ou

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INTBOBUOinOH.

EdQcation says, that the Gymnosophists are deseendants of the

Magi ; and some say that the Jeyfs also are derived from them.
Moreover, those who have writteu on the subject of the Magi
condemn Herodotus ; for they say that Xerxes would never
have shot arrows against the sun, or have put fetters on the
sea, as both sun and sea have been handed down by the Magi
as gods, but that it was ^uite consistent for Xerxes to destroy
the imiiges of the gods.

VII. The following is the account tl)at authors give of the
philosophy of the Egyptians, as hearing on the gods and on
justice. They say that tlie first principle is matter; then that
the four elements were formed out of matter and divided, and
that some animals were created, and tliat the sun and moon are •
gods, of whom the former is called Osiris and the latter Isis,
and they are symbolised under the names of beetles and
dragons, and hawks, and other animals, as Manetho tells us
in his abridged account of Natural Philosophy, and Hecataeus
confirms the statement in the first Ixiok of his Historv of
the Philosophy of the Egyptians. They also make images of
the gods, and assign them temples because they do not know
the form of God. They consider that the world had a begin -
lung and will have an end, and that it is a sphere ; they think
that the stars are fire, and that it is by a combination of them
that the things on earth are generated; that the moon is
eclipsed when it falls into the shadow of the earth ; that the
soul is eternal and migratory ; that rain is caosed bj the changes
of the atmosphere ; and they enter into other speculations on
points of natural histoij, as Hecateus and Aristagoias inform
us.

Thej also have made laws about justice, which thej attribute
to Mercury, and they consider those animals which are useful
to be gods. They daim to themseWes the merit of having
been the inventors of geometry, and astrology, and arithmetic.
So much then for the subject of invention.

VUI. But Pythagoraa was the first person who invented the
term Philosophy, and who called himself a philosopher ; when
he was conversing at Sicyon with Leon, who was tyrant of the
Siqfonians or of Sie Phlksians (as HeracHdes Ponticus relates
iu the book which he* wrote about a dead woman) ; for he said
that no man ought to be called wise, but only God. For for.
merly what is now called philosophy (^iXoffo^/a) was called

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LIVES OF BMINBNT PHILOSOFHERS.

wisdom (tf'o^/a), and they who professed it were called wise men
(tfo^o/), as being endowed with great acuteness and accuracy of
mind ; but now he who embraces wisdom is called a philosopher

But the wise men were also called Sophists. And not
odj thej^ bat poets also were called Sophists : as Oradnus in
his Archilochi caUs Homer and Hedod, while praising them
highly.

IX. Now these were thqr who were accounted wise men.
Thales, Sobn, Periander, Cleobnlus, Chile, Bias, Pittacus.
To these men add Anacharsis the Scjtl^an, Myson the
Chenean, Pherecydes the Syrian, and Epimenides the Cretan ;
and some add, Pisistratus, the lyrant : These then are they
who were called the wise men.

X. But of Philosophy there arose two schools. One de-
rived from Anaximander, the other from rvtha<:(oras. Now,
Thales had been the preceptor of Anaximander. aiul Phere-
cydes of Pythagoras. And the one school was called the
Ionian, because Thales, being an Ionian (for he was a native
of Miletus), had been the tutor of Anaximander; — but
the other was called the Italian from Pythagoras, because he
spent the chief part of his life in Italy. And the Ionic
school ends with Clitomachus, and Chrysippus, and Theo-
phrastus ; and the Italian one wdth Epicurus ; for Anaxi-
mander succeeded Thales, and he was succeeded again hy
Anaximenes, and he by Anaxagoras, and he by Archelaus,
who was the master of Socrates, who was the originator of
moral philosophy. And he was the master of the sect of the
Socratic philosophers, and of Plato, who was the founder of
the old Academy ; and Plato's pupils were Speusippiis and
Xenocrates ; and Polerao was the pupil of Xenocrates,
and Grantor and Crates of Polemo. Crates again was the
master of Arcesilaus, the founder of the Middle Academy,
and his pupil was Lacydes, who gave the new Academy
its distinctive principles. His pupH was Cameades, and he
in his turn was the master of Clitomachus. And this school
ends in this way with Clitomachus and Chrysippus.

Antisthenes was the pupil of Socrates, and the master of
Diogenes the Cynic ; and the pupil, of Diogenes was Crates
the Theban ; Zeno the Cittiaean was his ; Cleanthes was his ;
Chrysippus was his. Again it ends with Theophrastus in
the following manner

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INTRODUCnOK.

Aristotle was the pupil of Plato, Theophrastus the pupil
of Aristotle ; and in this way the Ionian school comes to
an end.

Now the Italian school was carried on in Ijiis way,
Pythagoras was the pupil of Pherecydes ; his pupil was
Telauges his son ; he was the master of Xenophanes, and he
of Parmenides ; Parmenides of Zeno the Eleatic, he of
Leucippus, he of Democritos : Democritus had many disciples,
the most eminent of whom were Nausiphanes and Nausioydes,
and they were the masters of Epicurus.

XI. Now, of Philosophers some were dogmatic, and others
were inclined to suspend their opinions. By dogmatic, I
mean those who explain their opinions ahout matters, as if*
they could he comprohended. By tiiose who suspend their
opinions, I mean those who give no positive judgment, think-
ing that these things cannot he comprehended. And the
toner daas have left many memorials of themselves;
but the others have never written a line ; as for in-
stance, according to some people, Socrates, and Stilpo, and
Philippus, and Menedemus, and Pyrrho, and Theodorus, and
Gameades, and Bryson ; and, as some people say, Pythagoras,
and Aristo of Chios, except that he wrote a few letters. There
are some men too who have written one work only, Melissus.
Parmenides, and Anaxagoras ; but Zeno wrote many works,
Xenophanes still more ; Democritus more, Aristotle more,
Epicurus more, and Chrysippus more.

XII. Again, of philosophers some derived a surname from
cities, as, the Khans, and Megaric sect, the Eretrians, and
the Cyrenaics. Some from the places wliicli they frequented,
as tlie Academics and Stoics. Some from accidental circum-
stances, as the Peripatetics; or, from jests, as the Cynics.
Some again from their dispositions, as the Eudfemonics ; some
from an opinion, as the Elenctic, and Analogical schools.
Some from their masters, as the Socratic and Epicurean plii-
losophers; and so on. The Natural Philosophers were so
called from their study of nature; the Ethical philosophers
from tlieir investigation of questions of morals (irt^l ra 6t^»j).
The Dialecticians are they who devote themselves to quibbling
on words.

XI I I. Now there are three divisions of philosophy.
Natural, Ethical, and Dialectic. Natural philosophy occupies

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V2 LIVES OF BHIHENT PHILOSOPHERS.

itself al)out the world and the things in it ; £thi!bal philosophy
about life, and the things vrhich concern us ; Dialectics are
conversant with the arguments by which both the others are

supportecL

Natural philosophy prevailed till the time of Archelaus;
but after the time of Socrates, Ethical philosophy was pre-
dominant ; and after the time of Zeno the Eleatic, Dialectic
philosophy got the upper hand.

Ethical philosophy was subdivided into ten sects; the
Academic, tiie Cyrenaic, ibe Elian, the Megaric, the Cynic,
the Eretrian, the Dialectic, the Peripatetic, the Stmc, and
the Epicurean. Of the old Academic school Plato was the
president; of the middle, Arcesilaus; and of the New,
Lacydes : — ^tbe Cyrenaic school was founded by Aristippus the
Cyrenian ; the Elian, by Phiedo, of Elis ; the Megaric, by
Euclid, of Megara; the Cynic, by Antisthenes, the* Athenian;
the Eretrian, by Menedemus, of Eretria; the Dialectic by
Glitomachus, the Carthaginian ; the Peripatetic, by Aristotle,
the Stagirite ; the Stoic, by Zeno, the Cittimn ; the Epicurean
school derives its name from Epicurus, its founder.

But Hippobotus, in his Treatise on Sects, says that there
are nine sects and schools : firsts, the Megaric ; secondly, the
Eretrian ; thirdly, the Cyrenaic ; fourthly, the Epicurean ;
fifthly, the Annicerean ; sixthly, the Theodorean ; seventhly,
the sect of Zeno and the Stoics; eighthly, that of the Old
Academy ; and ninthly, the Peripatetic ; — not counting .
either the Cynic, or the Eliac, or the Dialectic school. That
also which is called the Pyhrronean is repudiated by many,
writers, on account of the obscurity of its principles. But
others consider that in some particulars it is a distinct sect,
and in others not. For it does ap])ear to be a sect — for what
we call a sect, say they, is one which follows, or appears to
follow, a principle which appears to it U) be the true one ; on
which principle we correctly call the Sceptics a sect. But if
by the name sect we understand those who incline to rules
which are consistent with the principles which they profess,
then the Pyrrhonean cannot be called a sect, for they have no
rules or principles.

These, then, are the beginnings, these are the successive
masters, these are the divisions, and schools of philosophy.

XIV. Moreover, it is nut long ago, that a new Eclectic

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nrrBODUCTioN.

school was set up by Potamo, of Alexandria, who picked out
of the doctrines of each school what pleased him most. And
as he himself says, in his Elementary Instruction, he thinks
that there are certain criteria of tnith : fixst of all the facalty
which judges, and this is the superior one ; the other that
which is the foundation of the judgment, heing a most
exact iqipearance of the olgects. And the first principles of
everything he calls matter, and the agent, and the quality, and
the .place. For they show out of what, and by vthatt and
how, and where anything is done. The end is that to which
eveiything is referred; namely, a life made perfect with every
virtue, not without the natural and external qualities of the
body.

But we must now speak of the mm themselves ; and first
of all about Thales.

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LIFE OF THAI-ES.

I. Thales, then, as Herodotus and Duris and Democritus
say, was the son of Euxamius and Cleohule ; of the family of
the Thelidae, who are Phoenicians by descent, among the
most noble of all the descendants of Cadmus and Agenor, as
Plato testifies. And he was the first man to whom the name
of Wise wiis given, when Dumasius was Archon at Athens, in
whose time also the seven wise men had that title given to
them, as Demetrius Phalercus records in his Catalogue of the
Archons. He was euroUed as a citizen at Miletus when
he came thither witli Neleus, who had been banished from
Plioenieia ; but a more common statement is that he was a
native Milesian, of noble extraction.

II. After having been immersed in state affairs he
applied himself to speculations in natural philosophy ;
though, as some people state, he left no writings behind him.
For the book on Naval Astronomy, which is attributed to him
is said in reality to be the work of Focus the Samian. But
CalUmachus was aware that he was the discoverer of the Lesser
Bear ; for in his Iambics he speaks of him thus :

And, he, 'tis B:iid, did first compute the stars
Which beam in Cliarles a wain, and guide the bark
Of the Phoeuiuian sailor o'er the sea.

According to others he wrote two books, and no more,
about the solstice and the equinox ; thinking that everything
else YTBA easily to be comprehended. According to other
statements, he is said to have been the first who studied
astronomy, and who foretold the eclipses and motionB of the
sun, as Endemus relates in his history of the discoveries
made in astronomy; on which account Xenophanes and
Herodotus praise him greatly ; and Heraclitus and De-
mocritus confiim this statement.

III. Some i\<j,nin (one of whom is Chaerihis tlie poet) say
that he whs the first person who affirmed that the souls of
meu were immortal ; and he was the hrst peibon, too, who

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discovered the path of the sun from one end of the ecliptic to
the otlier ; and who, as one account tells us, defined the
magnitude of the sun as being seven hundred and twenty
times as great as that of the moon. He was also the first
person who called the last day of the month the thirtieth.
And likewise the first to converse about natural philosophy, as
some say. But Aristotle and Hippias say that he attributed
souls also to lifeless things, forming his conjecture from the
nature of the magnet, £ind of amber. And Pamphile relates
that he, having learnt geometry from the Egyptians, was the
£rst person to describe a rigbt*aiigled triangle in a circle, and
that he sacrificed an ox in honour of his discoveiy. But others,
among whom is Apollodorus the calculator, say that it was
Pythagoras who made tins discovery. It was Thales also who
carried to their greatest point of advancement the discoveries
which Callimachus in his iambics says were first made by Eu-
phebus the Phrygian, such as those of the scalene angle, and of
the trian^e, and of other things which rdate to investigations
abottt lines. He seems also to have been a man of the greatest
wisdom in political matters. For when GroBsns sent to the
Milesians to invite them to an alliance, he prevented them
from agreeing to it, which step of his, as Gyrus got the victory,
pOTed the salvation of the city* But Clytus relates, as
HeracUdes assures us, that he was attached to a solitary and
leduse life.

IT. Some assert that he was married, and that he had a
son named Gihissus ; othets, on the contrary, say that he
never had a wife, but that he adopted the son of lus sister ;
and that once being asked why he did not himself become a
fether, he answered, that it was because he was fond of chil-
dren. They say, too, that when his mother exhorted him to
marry, he s'd'id, " No» by Jove, it is not yet time." And
afterwards, ^vlieu he was past his youth, and she was again
pressing him earnestly, he said, " It is no longer time."

V. Hieronymus, of Khodes, also tells us, in the second
book of his Miscellaneous Memoranda, that when he was
desirous to show that it was easy to get rich, he, foreseeing
that there would be a great crop of olives, took some large
plantations of olive trees, and so made a great deal of
money.

VL He asserted water to be the principle of all things,

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16 UYES OF EMINENT PHII1O8OFHEB8.

and that the world had life, and was full of daemons : tliey
say, too, that he was the original deliner of the seasons of the
year, and that it was he who divided the year into three
hundred and sixty-five days. And he never had any teacher
except during the tiine that he went to Egypt, and associated
with the priests. Hieronymus also says that he measured the
Pyramids : watcliing their shadow, and calculating when they
were of the same size as that was. He lived with Thrasy-
bulus the tyrant of Miletus, as we are informed by Minyas.

VII. Now it is known to every one what happened with
respect to the tripod that was found by, the fishermen and
sent to the wise men by the people of the Milesians. For
they say that some Ionian youths bought a cast of their net
from some Milesian fishermen. And when the tripod was
drawn up in the net there was a dispute about it; imtil
the Milesians sent to Delphi : and the God gave them the
following answer : —

You ask about the tripod, to whom you shall present it ; j
. *Tis for the wisest, I reply, that fortune surely ineaut it

Accordingly they gave it to Thales, and he gave it to some
one, who again handed it over to another, till it came to
Solon. But he Baid that it was the God himself who
was the first in wisdom ; and so he sent it to Delphi. But
Oallimachus gives a different account of this in his Iambics,
taking the tradition which he mentions from Leander the
Milesian ; for he says that a certain Arcadian of the name of
Bathydes, when dying, left a goblet behind him with an injunc-
tion that it should be given to the first of the wise men. And
it was given to Thales, and went the whole circle till it came
back to Thales, on which he sent it to Apollo Didymaeus, adding
(according to Oallimachus,] the following distich : —

Thaleo^ who's twice received mb as a prize,
Qhres me to him who rules the race of Neleua

And the prose inscription runs thus • —

Thales the son of Ezamius, a Milesian, offers this to Apollo Didy>
mrcus, having twice xeoeived it from the Greeks as the reward for
virtue.

And the name of the son of Bathydes who carried the goblet

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THALES.

about from one to the other, was Thyrion, as Eleusis tells
us in his Histoiy of Achilles. And Alexander the Mjndian
agrees with him in the ninth book of his Traditions. But
Eudoxus of Cnidos, and Evanthes of Miletus, say that one of
the friends of Croesus received &om the king a golden goblet,
for the purpose of giving it to the basest of the Greeks ; and
that he gave it to Thales, and that it came roimd to Ghilo, and
that he inquired of the God at Delphi who was wiser than him-
self; that the God repUed, Myson, whom we shall menticm
hercHftflter. (He is the man whom Eudoxus places among the
seven wise men instead of Oleobulus ; but Plato inserts his
name instead of Perianden) The God acoordmglj made this
rep] J coDceniing him

I say that Myson, the iBtoeau sage, *
The citiEen of Ghen^ la wiier hx
In hiB deep mind iban you.

The pei'son who went to the temple to ask the question was
Anacharsis ; hut again Dfedacus, the Platonic philosopher,
and Clearchus, state that the goblet was sent by Croesus to
Pittacus, and so was carried round to the different men.
But Andron, in his book called The Tripod, says that the
Aigives offered the tripod as a prize for exoellenoe to the wisest
of the Ghreeks ; and that Aristodemus, a Spartan, was judged
to deserve it, but that he yielded the pahn to Chile ; and
Alceus mentions Aristodemus in these lines : —

And 80 they say Aristodoinus once
Uttered a truwful speech in noble Sparta :
'TIS monev makee tlie man ; and he who's none^
1m counted neither good nor honourable.

But some say that a vessel fully loaded was sent by Periander
to Thrasybulus the tyrant of the Milesians ; and that as the
ship was wrecked in the sea, near the island of Cos, this tri-
pod was afterwards found by some fishermen, Phanodicus
savs that it was louud in the sea near Athens, and so hroimht
into the city ; and then, after an assembly had been held to
decide on the disposal, it was sent to Bias — and the reason
why we will mention in our account of Bias. Others say that
this goblet had been 'made by Vulcan, and presented by the
Gods to Pelops» on his marriage ; and that subsequently it came
into the possession of Menelaus, and was taken away by Pana

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LIVES OF JBMINENT PHXL060PHEBS,

when be canied off Helen, and was thrown into the sea near
Cos by her, as she said that it would become a cause of battle.
And after some time, some of the citizens of Lebedos having
bought a net, this tripod was brought up in it ; and as they
quarrelled with the fishermen about it, they went to Cos ; and
not being able to get the matter settled there, they laid it before
the Milesians, as Miletus was their metropolis ; and they sent
ambassadors, who were treated with neglect, on which account
they made war on the Coans ; and after each side had met with
many revolutions of fortune, an oracle directed that the tripod
shocdd be ^ven to the wisest $ and tiien both parties agreed
that it belonged to Thales : and he, after it had gone the
circuit of all the wise men, presented it to the Didymsan
Apollo. Now, the assignation of the oracle was given to the
Goans in the following words r—

The war between the hrave Ionian race

And the provid Meropes will never cease,

Till the rich golden tripod which the Grod,

Its maker, cast beneath the briny wavesy

Is fh>m your city sent, and justly given

To that wise being who knows all j)res0nt thingB^

And all that's pa8i» and all that is to ooma

And the reply given to the Milesians was^

You ask about the tripod :

and so on, as Ihaye related it before. And now we have said
enough on this subject.

But Hermippus, in his Lives, refers to Thales what has
been by some people re|X)rttMl of Socrates ; for he recites tliat
he used to say that he thiinked fortune for threu things : — first
of all, that he had been born a man and not a beast ; secondly,
that he was a man and not a woman ; and thirdly, that he was
a Greek and not a barbarian.

VIII. It'is said that once he was led out of his bouse by an
old woman for the purpose of observing the stars, and he fell
into a ditch and bewailed himself, on which the old woman
said to him — " Do you, O Thales, who cannot see what is
under your feet, think that jou shall understand what is in
heaven Timon also knew that he was an astronomer, and
in his SilU he praises him, saying : — -

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THALES.

Like Thales, wisest of the seven sages,
That great astronomer.

And Lobon, of Argos, says, that which was written by him ex-
tends to about two hundred verses ; and that the • fbilowing
insciiptioii is engxaved upon his statue

Miletus, fairest of Ionian cities.

Gave birth to Thales, great astronomer,

WiaeBb of mortals in all kinds of knowledge.

IX. And these are quoted as some of his lines :-—

It is not many words that real wisdom proves;

Breathe rather one wise thought.

Select one worthy object,
So shall you best the endless prate of silly men reprove. —

And the following are quoted as sayings of his :— God is the
most aadeiit of aU things, for he had no hirth : the world is the
most beautifnl of things, for it is the work of God : place is
the greatest of things, for it contains all things : intellect is the
smftestof things, for it runs through everything: necessity
•is the strongest of things, for it rules everything : time is the
wisest of things, for it finds out everything."

He said also that there was no difference hetween life and
death. Why, then," said some one to him, do not you
die ? " Because,'* said he, *' it does make no difference."
A man asked him v^iich was made first, night or day, and he
replied, ** Night was made first by one day.*' Another man
asked him whether a man who did wrong, could escape the
notice of the Gods. " No. not even if he thinks ^vrong," said
he. An adulterer inquin d of liim whether he sliould swear that
he had not committed adultery. "Perjury," said he, "is no
worse than adultery." When he was asked what was very
difficult, he said, *' To know one's self." And what was easy,
" To advise another.'* What was most pleasant ? *' To bo
successful.*' To the question, " What is the divinity ?" he re-
plied, ** That which has neither beginning nor end." When
asked wliat hard thing he had seen, he said, '* An old man a
tyrant." When the questiou was put to him how a man might
most easily endure misfortune, he said, '* If he saw his enemies
more unfortunate still." When asked how men might live
most virtuously and most justly, he said, "If we never do our-
selves what we blame in others." To tlie question, " Who was

G 2

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LIVES OF EMINENT PHILOSOPHEBS,

happy ?" he made answer, " He who is healthy in his body, easy
in his circumstances, and well-instracted as to his mind." He
said that men ought to remember those friends who were
absent as well as those who were present, and not to care about
adorning their faces, but to be beautified by their studies. Do
not/' said he, get rich by evil actions, and let not any one
ever be able to reproach you with speaking against those
who partake of your friendship. All the assistance that yoa
gire to your parents, the same you haye a right to expect from
your children.*' He said timt the reason of the Nile OTor-
flowiog was, that its streams were beaten back by the Etesian
winds blowing in a contrary direction.

X. Apollodoros, in las Chronicles, says, that Thales was
bom in the first year of l^e thirty-fifth Olympiad ; and he
died at the age of seventy-eight years, or according to the
statement of Sosicrates, at tibe age of ninety, for he died in the
fifty eighth Olympiad, having lived in the time of Croesus^ to
whom he promised that he would enable him to pass the Halys
without a bridge, by turning the course of the river.

XI. There have also been other men of the name of Thales,
as Demetrius of Magnesia says, in his Treatise on People and
Things of the same name ; of whom five are particularly
meutioned, an orator of Calatia of a very affected style of
eloquence ; a painter of Sicyon, a great man ; the third was
one who lived in very ancient times, in the age of Homer and
Hesiod and Lycurgus ; the fourth is a man who is mentioned
by Duris in his work on Painting ; the fifth is a more modem
person, of no great reputation, who is mentioned by Dioi:\ysius
in his Criticisms.

• XII. But this wise Thales died while present as a spectator
at a gynmastic contest, being worn out wiUi heat and thirst and
rveakness, for he was very old, and the following inscription
was placed on his tomb : —

Tou see this tomb is nnall — but recollect^
The fame of TluOee imcheB to tbe skies.

I have also myself composed this epigram on him in the first
book of my epigrams or poems in various metres:—

0 mighty ruti, our wisest Thales eat

Spectator of the games, wheu you did aeize upon him ;
But you were right to take him near yourself.

Noif thai his aged sight oonld scaroely readh to heaven.

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THALES.

XIII. The apophthegm, "know yourself/* is his; though
Antisthenes in his Successions, says that it belongs to
Phemonoe, but that Ohilo anpiopriated it as his own.

XIV. Now concerning the seven, (for it is well here to
speak of them all together,) the following traditions are handed .
down. Damon the Ojreniean, who wrote about the philosophers*
reproaches them aU, but most espedallj the seven. And
Anazimenes says, that they all applied themselves to poetry.
But Dic8earchus says, that they were neither wise m^ nor
philosophers, but merely shrewd men, who had studied
iQgislatum. And Archetimus, the Syracusian, wrote an account
of their having a meeting at the palace of Oypselus, at which
he says that he himself was present. Ephoms says that they
all except Thales met at the court of Croesus. And some say
that they also met at the Paiulionium * and at Corinth, and
at Delphi. There is a guod deal of disagreement hetween
dilTereut writers with respect to their apophthegms, as the
same one is attributed by them to various authors. For
instance there is the epigram; —

Chilo^ the Spartan sage, this sentence said :
Seek no ezoeis^aU luniely things are good.

There is also a difference of opinion witli respect to their
number. Leander inserts in the number instead of Cleubulus
and Myson, Leophantus Gorsias, a native of cither Tebedos or
Ephesus; and Epimenides, the Cretan; Plato, in his Protagoras,
reckons Myson among them instead of Periander. And
Ephorus mentions Anacharsis in the place of Myson; some
also add Pythagoras to the number. Dicaearchus speaks of
four, as universally agreed upon, Thales, Bias, Pittacus, and
Solon ; and then enumerates six more, of whom we are to
select three, namely, Ansiudemus, Panipbilus, Chile the
Lacedemonian, Cleobulus, Anacharsis, and Periander. Some
add Acusilaus of Argos, the son of Cabas, or Scabras. But
Hermippus, in his Treatise on the Wise Men says that there
were altogether seventeen, out of whom different authors
selected ditYerent individuals to make up the seven. These
8e?euteeu were Bolon, Thales, Pittacus, Bias, Ghilo» Myson,

* This was the temple of the national diety of the loniane, Neptune
HeUcouiuB, on Mount Mycale."— Yide Ifkk Or. amd Born. .inlt^.

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LIVES OF EMINENT PHILOSOPHEBa

Cleobulns, Periander, Anacharsis, Acusilaus, Epimenides,
Leophantus, Fherecydes, Aristodemus, Pjtbagoras, Lasus the
son of Charmantides, or Sisymlniniis, or as Aristoxenus caUs
him the son of Chahrinus, a citizen of Hermione, and Anaxa-
goraa. But Hippobotoa in his Deschptiim of the Philoso-
phers enumerates among them Orpheus, Linus, Solon, Peri-
ander, Anacharsis, Cleohulus, Mjson, Thales, Bias, Pittacns,
Epicharmus, and Pythagoras,

XV. The following Jetten are preserved as having been
written by ThaJes

THALES TO PHEBECYDES.

I hear that you are disposed, as no other Ionian has been,
to discourse to the Greeks about divine ^ngs, and perhaps it
will be wiser of you to reserve for your own Mends what you
write rather than to entrust it to any chance people, without
any advantage. If therefore it is agreeable to you, I should
be glad to become a pupil of yours as to the matters about
which you write; and if you invite lue I will come to you to
Syros; for Solon' the Athenian and I must he out of our
senses if we sailed to Crete to investigate the historj^ of that
country, and to Egypt for the purpose of conferring with the
priests and astronomers who are to he found there, and yet
are unwilling to make a voyage to you ; for Solon will come too,
if you will give him leave, for as you are fond of your present
habitation you are not likely to come to Ionia, nor are you
desirous of seeing strangers ; but you mther, as I hope, devote
yourself wholly to the occupation of writing. We, on the other
hand, who write nothing, travel over all Greece and Asia.

THALES TO SOLON.

XVI. If you should leave Athens it appears to me that you
Would £nd a home at Miletus among the colonists of Athens
more suitably than anywhere else, for here there are no
annoyances of any Mud. And if you are indignant because we
Milesians are governed by a tyrant, (for you yourself hate all
despotic rulers), still at all events you will find it pleasant to
live with us for your companions. Bias has also written to
invite you to Priene, and if you prefer taking up your abode

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SOLON.

in the citv of the Prieneans. then we ourselves will come
thither and settle near you.

LIFE OF SOLON.

I. Solon the son of Execestides, a native of Salamis, was
the first person who introduced among the Atlioniaiis, an
ordinance for the lowering* of debts ; for this was the name
given to the release of the bodies and possessions of the
debtors. For men used to borrow on the security of their
own persons, and many became slaves in consequence of their
iuability to pay ; and as seven talents were owed to him as a
part of his paternal iDheritance when he succeeded to it, he
was the first person who made a composition with his debtors,
and who exhorted the other men who had money owing to
them to do likewise, and this ordinance was called aiKsd^xQuai
and the reason why is plain. After that he enacted his other
laws, which it would take a long time to enumerate; and he
wrote them on wooden revolving tablets,

II. But what was his most important act of all was, when
there had been a great dispute about his native land Salamis,
between the Athenians and Megarians, and when the Athenians
had met with many disasters in war, and had passed a decree
that if any one proposed to the people to go to war for the
^e of Salamis he should be punished widi death, he then
pretended to be mad and putting on a crown rushed into the
market place, and there he recited to the Athemans by the
agency of a crier, the elegies which lie had composed, and
which were all directed to me sulgect of Salamis, and by these
means he excited them ; and so they made war again upon the
Megarians and conquered them by means of Solon. And the
elegies which had the greatest influence on the Athenians wem
these: —

Would thftt I were a msn of FhoIegwdroSft
Or small BionuiB,^: rather than of Athens :

* Vide Thirlwall, Hi<^t. of Greece, iL p. S4. t One of the Sporades.
t An island near Crete.

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LIVES OF EIUNJBNT PHILOSOPHEB&

For soon this will a common proverb be,
That's an Athenian who won't hght for SaLamis.

And another yns : —

Let's go and fight for lovely Salamis,
And wipe off this mir present infamy.

He also penuaded them to take possessbn of the Thracian
Chersonesns, andin order that it might appear that the Athenians
had got poBsesBion of Salamis not by foroe alone» but also with
.justice, he opened some tombs, and showed that the corpses
buried in them were all turned towards the east, according to
the Athenian fashion of sepidtnre; hkewise the tombs tbem-
selves all looked east, and the titles of the boroughs to wMch
the dead belonged were inscribed on them, which was a custom
peculiar to the Athenians. Some also say that it was he who
added to the catalogue of Homer, after the lines:—

With ther<e appear the Salaminiau bands,
Whom Telamon's gigantic son commands —

These other verses: —

In twelve black ships to Troy ihey steer their oourse.
And with the great Athenians join their force,*

III. And ever after this time the people was \Nnllingly
obedient to hira, and was contented to be governed l)y him :
but he did not choose to he their ruler, and moreover, as
Sosicrates relates, he, as far as in him lay, hindered also his
relative Pisistnitus from being so, wlicn he saw that he was
inclined to such a step. Rushing into one of the assemblies
armed with a spear and shield, he forewarned the people of
the design of Pisistratus, and not only that but told them tliat
he was prepared to assist them ; and these were his words :
" Ye men of Athens, I am wiser than some of you, and
braver than others. Wiser than those of you who do not per-
ceive the treachery of Pisistratus; and braver than those who
are aware of it, but out of fear hold their peace." But the
council, being in the interest of Pisistratus, said that he was
mad, on which he spoke as follows: —

A short time will to all my madneiis prove,
When stem reality presents itself

* Horn. U. 2. 671. Bxyden's Version.

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And these elegiac verses were 'written by him about the
tyranny of Pisistiatos, which he foretold.

Fierce snow and hail are from the clouds borne down,
And thunder after bnUiaat lightning roars ;

And by its own great men a city falls,
Tlie ignorant mob beooming alacveB to kings. v

IV. And when Pisistratus hail obtained the supreme power,
he, as lie would not influence him, laid down his arms before
the chief council-house, and said, " 0 my country, I have stood
by you in word* and deed." And then he sailed away to
Egypt, and Cypms, and came to Ora sus. And wliile at his
court being asked by him, " Who appeal's to you to be happy?***
He replied, "Tellus the Athenian, and Cleobis and Biton,**
and enumerated other commonly spoken of instances. But
some people say, that once Croesus adorned himself in every
possible manner, and took his seat upon liis throne, and then
asked Solon whether he had ever seen a more beautiful sight.
But he said, Yes, I have seen cocks and pheasants, and
peacocks ; for they are adorned with natural colours, and such
fts are ten thousand times more beautiful.** Afterwards leav-
ing Sardis he went to Cilicia, and there he founded a city
which he called Soli after his own name ; and he placed in it a
few Athenians as colonists, who in time departed from the
strict use of their native language, and were said to speak
Solecisms ; and the inhabitants of tliat city are called Solen-
sians ; but those of Soli in Cyprus are called Solians.

V. And when he leanit that Pisistratus continued to rule in
Athens as a tyrant, he wrote these verses on the Athenians:—

If throug]i your vices you afflicted are,

Lay not the blame of your distress on God ;
Yon aoade yoor rolen mighty, gave them guairda,

So now you groan 'kieath slavery's heavy rod —
Each one of you now treads in foxes' steps,

Bearing a weak, inconstant, faithless mind,
Trusting the tongue and sUppery ,sj>eech of man ;

Though in his acts alone you truth can hud.

This, then, he said to them.

VI. But Pisistratus, when he was leaving Athens, wrote him
a letter in the following terms : —

• Tide Herod, lib. 1. c. SO— 8S.

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36 LIVES OF EMINENT PHILOSOPHERS.

PISISTBATUS TO SOLON.

1 am not the only one of the Greeks who has seized the
sovereignty of bis country, nor am I one who had no right
whatever to do so, since I am of the race of Codrus ; for I liave
only re( overed what the Athenians swore that they would give to
Codrus and all his family, and what they afterwards deprived
them of. And in all other respects I sin neither against men
nor against gods, but I allow the Athenians to live under the
laws which vou established amonf^st tbem, and tliev arc now
living in a better manner than they would if they were under
a democracy ; for I allow no one to behave with violence : and
I, though I am the tyrant, derive no other advantage beyond
ray superiorily in rank and honour, being content with the
fixed honours which belonged to the former kings. And eveij
one of the Athenians biiogs the tithe of his possessions, not
to me, but to the proper place in order that it may be devoted
to the public sacrifices of the city ; and for any other public
pniposesy or for any emergencies of war which may arise.

But I do not blame you for laying open my plans, for I
know that you did so out of regard for the city rather than out
of dislike to me ; and also because you did not know what sort
of government I was about to establish ; dnce, if you had been
acquainted with it, yoa would have been content to live under
it and would not have fled* Now, therefore, return home
again; believing me even without my swearing to you that
Solon shall never receive any harm at &e bands of Pisistratus ;
know also that none of my enemies have suffered any evil feom
me ; and if you will consent to be one of my friends, you shall
be among the fixst; for I know that there is no treacheiy or
faithlessness in you. Or if yon wish to live at Athens in any
other manner, you shall be allowed to do so; only do not
deprive yourself of your country because of my actions.

Thus wrote Pisistratus.

VII. Solon also said, that the limit of human life was
seventy years, and be appears to have been a most excellent
lawgiver, for he enjoined, *' that if any one did not support his
parents he should be accounted infamous ; and that the man
who squandered his patrimony should be equally so, and the
inactive man was liable to prosecution by any one who choose
to impeach him. But Lysias, in his speech against Nicias,

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ft!

says that Draco first proposed this kw, but that it ms Solon
who enacted it. He also prohibited all who liyed in dehaudieiy
from ascendlDg the tribimal ; and be diminished the bononrs
paid to Athletes who were netoiious in the games, fixing the
prize for a lietor at 01 jmpia at five hundred dnusbnus,* and for
one who conquered at the Isthmian games at one hundred ;
and in the same proportion did he fix the prizes for the other
games, for he said, that it was absurd to give such great
honours to those men as ought to be reserved for those only
who died in the wars ; and their sons he ordered to he educate J
and bred up at the public expense. And owing to this encou-
rj^ement, the Athenians behave themselves nobly and valiantly
in war; as for instance, Poljzelus, and Cyna^girus, and
Callimachus, and all tlie soldiers who fought at Marathon, and
Hannodius, and Aristogiton, and Miltiades, and numberless
other heroes.

But as for the Athletes, their training is very expensive,
and their 'victories injurious, and they are crowned rather as
conquerors of their country than of their antagonists, and
when they become old, as Euripides says : —

TheyVe like old doAks worn to the yeiy wooH

IX. So Solon, appreciating these facts, treated them with
moderation. This also was an admirable regulation of his, that
a guardian of oi*phans should not live with their mother, and
that no one should be appointed a guardian, to whom the
orphans' property would come if they died. Another excellent
law was, that a seal engraver might not keep an impression
of any ring which had been sold by him, and that if a person
struck out the eye of a man who had but one, he should lose
both his own, and that no one should claim what he had not
deposited, otherwise death should be his punishment. Tf an
archon was detected being drunk, that too was a capital crime
And he compiled the poems of Homer, so that they might be
recited by different bards, taking the cue from one another, so
that where one had lef^ off the next one might take him up,
80 that it was Solon rather than Pisistratus who brought
Homer to 1ic;ht, as Dieuchidas says, in the fifth book of his
Histoiy of Megarn, and the most celebrated of his rersea
were:—

X A dniohma was something len than ten pence.

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28 LIVES OF EBCnraTT fHILO6OPIIBB0.

Fall fif^ more from Atbfliw stem tbe main.

And the rest of that passage — ** And Solon was the first person
who called the thirtieth day of the month iktj xa/ vsa."* He was
the fii'st person also wlio assembled the nine archons together
to deliver their opinions, as Apollodonis tells us in the second
book of his Treatise on Lawgivers. And once, when there was
a sedition in the city, he took part^ neither with the citizens,
nor with the inhabitants of the plain, nor with the men of the
sea-coast.

X. He used to say, too, that speech was the image of actions,
and that the king was the mipfhtiest man its to his power ; but
that laws were like cobwebs — for that if any trilling or power-
less thing fell into them, they held it fast ; but if a thing
of any size fell into them, it broke the meshes and escaped.
Ho used also to say that discourse oiip^ht to be sealed by silence,
and silence by opportunity. It was also a saying of liis, that
those who had influence >vith tyrants, were like the pebbles which
are used in making calculations ; for that every one of those
pebbles were sometimes worth more, and sometimes less, and
so that the tprants sometimes made each of these men of con*
sequence, and sometimes neglected them. Being asked why
he had made no law concerning parricides, he made answer,
that he did not expect that any such person would exist.
When he was asked how men could be most effectually deterred
from committing injustice, he said,** If those who are not in-
jured feel as much indignation as those who are." Another
apophthegm of his was, that satiety was generated hy wealthy
and insolence hy satiety.

XI. He it was who taught the Athenians to regulate their
days hy the course of the moon ; and he also forhade Thespis
to perform and represent his tragedies, on the ground of
falsehood heiiig unprofitable ; and when Pisistratus wounded
himself, he said it tul came of Thespis's tragedies.

* "*Byif iea2 via the last day of the month t-eLeewhere rptayi^c* So
called for this reason. The old Greek year was lunar ; now the nuxm'B

monthly orbit is twenty-nine and a half days. So that if the first month
began \nth the Hun and moon together at sunrise, at the month's end
it would be sunset ; and the second month would begin at sunset. To
prevent this irregularitV| Solon made the latter half day belong to the
nnt month ; io tiiat uiiB thirtieth day oonnsted of twa halTee, one
belonging to the old, the other to the new moon. And when the lunar
month fell into disuse, the last day of the calendar month waa afe&U
called '£yj|| ma wioT — Z« ^ & Greek huAoQit^ in t. lyoc«

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XII. He gave the follo^ving advice, as is recorded by Apol-
lodorus in his Treatise on the Sects of Philosophers : — " Con-
sider your honour, as a gentleman, of more weight than an
oath, — Never speak falsely. — Pay attention to matters of im-
portance.— Be not hasty in making friends'; and do not cast
oflf those whom you have made. — Rule, after you have first
learnt to submit to rule. — Advise not what is most agreeable,
but what is best^Make reason your giiide.**-Do not asso-
ciate with the wicked. — ^Honour the gods ; respect your
parents."

XIII. They say also that when Mimnermus had written

Happy's the man who 'scapes disease and care.
And dies contented In bis sixtieth year :

Solon rebuked him, and said : —

Be guided now by me. erase this verse.

Nor envy me if I'm more wise than yon.
If you write thus, your wish would not be worse,
May I be eighty ere death lays me low.

The following are some lines out of his poems

Watch well each separate citizen,
• Lest haying in his heart of hearts
A secret spear, one still may oome
Saluting you with cheerful face,

And utter wnth a double tonpie

The feigned good wishes of his waiy mind.

As for his having made laws, that is notorious ; he also com-
posed speeches to the people, and a book of suggestions to
himself, and some elegiac poems, and five thousand verses about
Salamis and the constitution of the Athenians ; and some iam-
bics and epodes.

XV. And on his statue is the following inscription—-

Salamis that checked the Persian inRolence,
Brought forth this holy lawgiver^ wise Solon.

He flourished about the forty-sixth Olympiad, in the third year
of which he was archon at Athens, as Sosicrates records ; and
it was in this year that he enacted his laws ; and he died in
Cyprus, after lie had lived eighty years, having given charge to

his relations to carry his bones to Salamis, and there to binTi
them to ashes, and to scatter the aiihes on the ground. In re-

80 LIVES OF £MU(£14T PHILOSOPHEES.

ference to which Cratiuus iu his Chiron represents him as
speaking thus

And as men say, I still this isle inliEbil^
Sown, o'er the whole of Ajaif fiunous cHy.

There is also an epigram in the before mentioned collection
of poems, in various metres, in which I have made a collection
of notices of all the illustrious men that have ever died, in every
kind of metre and rhythm, in epigrams and odes. And it runs
thus : —

The Cyprian flame devoured great Solon's oovpse^

Far in a foreign land ; but SalamLs
Retains his bones, whose dust ia turned to com.

The tablets of his laws do bear aloft
His mind to heaven. Such a burden light

Are these immortal rules to th' happy wood.

XVI. He also, as some say, was the author of the apoph-
thegm— Seek excess in nothing." And Dioscorides, in his
Commentaries, says, that, when he was lamenting his son,
who was dead (with whose name I am not acquainted), and when
some one said to him, '* You do no good by weeping," he replied,
** But that is the very reason why I weep, because { do no
good."

XVII. The following letters also are attributed to him :—

SOLON TO PEBIANDEB.

You send me word that many people are plotting against
you ; but if you were to think of putting eyeiyone of them out
of the way, you would do no good; but some one whom you do
not suspect would still plot against you, partly because ha would
fear for himself, and partly out of dislike to you for fearing all
sorts of things ; and he would think, too, that he would make
the city grateful to bim» even if you were not suspected. It is
better, therefore, to abstain from the tyranny, in order to es-
cape from blame. But if you absolutely must be a tyrant, then
you had better provide for having a foreign force in the city
superior to that of the citizens ; and then no one need be for-
midable to you, nor need you put any one out of the way.

SOLON TO EPIUSNIDES. '

XVXII. My laws were not destined to be long of service

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SOLON. •

to the Athenians, nor have you done any great good by puri-
fying the city. For neither can the Deity nor lawgiveis do
much good to cities hy themselves ; but these people rather
have this power, who, from time to time, can lead the people
to any opinions they choose ; so also the Deity and the
laws, when the citizens are well governed, are useful ; hut
when they are ill govenied,"they are no good. Nor eiremylaw^s
nor all the enactments that I made, any better ; but those who
were iu power transgressed them, and did great injury to the
commonwealth, inasmuch as they did not hinder Pisistratus
from ursiiq^iiig the tyranny. Nor did they believe me when I
gave them warning beforehand. But he obtained more credit
than I did, who flattered the Athenians while I told him the
truth : but I, placing my arms before the principal council-
house, being wiser than they, told those who had no suspicion of
it, that Pisistratus was desirous to make himself a tyrant ; and
I showed myself more valiant than those who hesitated to de-
fend the state against him. But they condemned the madness
of Solon. But at last I spoke loudly — 0, my country, I,
Solon, here am ready to defend you by word and deed ; but to
these men I seem to be mad. So I mil depart fi»m you, being
the only antagonist of Pisistratus ; and let these men be his
guards if they please." For you know the man, my friend, and
how cleverly he seized upon the tyranny. He first began by
being a demagogue ; then, having inflicted wounds on him-
self, he came to the Helisea, crying out, and saymg, " That he
had been treated in this way by his enemies.' And he en-
treated the people to assign him as guards four hundred young
men ; and they, disregarding my advice, gave them to him.
And they were all armed mdi bludgeons. And after that he
put down the democracy. They in vain hoped to deliver the
poor from their state of slavery, and so now they are all of them
slaves to Fisistxatus.**

SOLOK TO PISISTBATU8.

I am well assured that I should suffer no evil at your

hands. For before your assumption of the tyranny I was a
friend of yours, and now my case is not difibrent from that of
any other Athenian who is not pleased with tyiam^. And

whether it is better for them to be governed by one individual,
or to live uiidei a Nomocracy, that each person may deddid

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Ad UVES OF PONENT PHILOSOPHERS.

ac( orcling to his own sentiments. And I admit that of all
tyrants you are the best. But I do not judge it to be good
for me to return to Athens, lest any one should blame nie,
for, after having established equality of civil rights among the
Athenians, and after having refused to be a tyrant myself
when it was in my power, returning now and acquiescing in
"what you are doing.

SOLON TO CRCESUS.

XX. I thank you for your goodvrill towards me* And, hy
Minerva, if I did not think it precious above everything to
. live in a democracy, I would willingly prefer living in your
palace with you to living at Athens, since Pisistratus has
made himself tyrant hy force. But life is more pleasant to
me where justice and equality prevail univeraally. However,
I will come and see yoo^ being anxious to enjoy your hospi-
• tality for a season.

LIFE OF CHILO.

I. Chilo was a Lacedsemonian, the son of Damagetus. He
composed verses in elegiac metre to the number of two
hundred : and it was a saying of his that a foresight of future
events, such as could be arrived at by consideration was the
virtue of a man. He also said once to his brother, who was
indignant at not being an ephor, while he himself was one,
" The reason is because I know how to bear injustice : but
you do not.*' And he was made ephor in the fifty-fifth Olym-
piad ; but Pamphila says that it was in the £fty-sixth. And
he was made mst ephor in the year of the anshonship of
EuthydemuB, as we are told hv Sosicrates. ChOo was also
the first person who introduced the custom of joining the
ephors to the kings as th^ counsellors: though Satyrus
attributes this institution to Lycurgus. He, as Herodotus
says in his first book, when Hippocrates was sacrificing at
Olympia, and the cauldrons began to boil of their own accord,
advised him either to marry, or, if he were married already,
to discard his wife, and disown his children.

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CHXLO.

II. They tell a story, also, of his having asked Mso]) what
Jupiter was doing, and that JEsoi) replied, " He is luweriug
what is high, and exalting what is low." Being asked in what
educated men differed from those who were illiterate, he said,
*' In good hopes." Having had the question put to him, What
was difficult, he said, *' To be silent about secrets ; to make
good use of one s leisure, and to be able to submit to in-
justice." And besides these three things he added further,
*• To rule one's tongue, especially at a banquet, and not to
speak iU of cue's neigibbours ; for if one does so one is sure
to hear what one will not like." He advised, moreover, " To
threaten no one ; for that is a womanly trick. To be more
prompt to go to one s friends in adversity than in proeperitj.
To make but a moderate display at one's marriage. Not to
fpttik evil of the dead. To lionour old ag9.-^To keep a
watch upon one's self. — To prefer punishment to disgraceful
gain ; for the one is painful but once, but the other for one*s
whole life.— -Not to laugh at a person in misfortune. — ^If one
is strong to be also merciiul, so that one's neighbours may
respect one rather than fear one.— -To learn how to regulate
one's own house well. — Not to let one*8 tongue outrun one*8
sense. — ^To restrain anger.— >Not to dislike divination.— Not
to desire what is impossible.— Not to make too much haste on
one's road.— When speaking not to ges^ulate with the hand;
fiMT that is like a madman. — ^To obey the laws.— To love
quiet."

And of all his songs this one was the most approved : —

Gk)ld is best tested by a whetstone hard.
Which gives a certain proof of purity ;
And gold itaelf acts as the test of men.
By wbieh we know the temper of their miada.

III. They say, too, that when he was old he said, that he
N^as not conscious of having ever done an unjust action
in his life; but that he doul^f^ed about one thing. For
that once when judging in a iVi end's cause he had voted
himself in accordance with the law, hut had persuaded a
friend to vote for his acquittal, ia order that so he might
maintain the law, and yet save his friend.

IV. But he was most especially celebrated among the
Greeks for having delivered an early opinion about Cjthera
an ishind belonging to Laconia. For having become ac-

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34 LIVES OF EMINENT FHII/)8aFHEB8»

quainted with its nature, he said, " I wish it bad never
existed, or that, as it does exist, it were sunk at the bottom
of the sea." And his foresight was proved afterwards. For when
Demaratus was banished by the Lacedaemonians, he advised
Xerxes to keep his ships at that island : and Greece would
have been subdued, if Xerxes had taken the advice. And
afterwai'ds Nicias, having reduced the island at the time of the
Peloponnesiau war, placed in it a garrison of Athenians, and.
did a great deal of harm to the Lacedaemonians.

V. He was very brief in his speech. On which account
Aristagoras, the Milesian, calls such conciseness, the Chilo-
ncan fashion ; and says that it was adopted by Branclius, who
built the temple among the Branchida). Chilo was an old
man, about the fifty-second Olympiad, when iEsop, the fable
ivhter, floorisbed. And be died, as Hemiippus says, at Pisa,
after embracing bis eon, who had gained the victory in boxing
at tbe Olympic games. The cause of his death was excess of
joy, and weakness caused by extreme old age. All the
spectatoxB who were present at tbe games attended his
funeral, paying bim tbe highest bonouis. And we have written
the following epigram on bim : —

I thank you, brightest Pollux, that the son

Of Chilo wears the wreath of victory ;
Kor need we grieye if at tbe glorious niglit

His &tlier cued. May Budh my last end be I

And tbe following inscription is engraved on his statue : —

The -warHke Sparta called thiB Chilo flOi^
The ynauA man of all the seven sages.

One of bis sayings was, ** Suretyship, and then destmction."
Tbe following letter of bis is also extant

CHILO TO PEBIANDBB.

Ton desire me to abandon the expedition against tbe
emigrants, as you yourself will go forth. But I think that a
sole governor is in a slippeiy position at bome ; and I consider
that tyrant a fortunate man wbo dies a natural deatb in bis.
own bouse.

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P1TTACI7&

LIFE OF PITTACUS.

I. PiTTACUS was anative of Mitylene, and son of Hvm^ms.
But Duris says, that his father was a Thracian. He, in union
with the brothers of Alcaeus, put down Melanchrus the tyrant
of Leshos. And in tlie battle which took place between the
Athenians and Mitylenaeans on the subject of the district of
Achilis, he was the Mitylensean general ; the Atheniar
commander being Phrynon, a Pancratiast, who had gained the
victory at Olympia. Pittacus agreed to meet him in single
combat, and liaving a net under bis shield, he entangle%
Phrynon without his being aware of it beforehand, and so,
having killed him, he preserved the district in dispute to his
countrymen. But Apollodorus, in his Chronicles, says, that
subsequently, the Athenians had a trial with the Mitylenaeans
about the district, and that the cause was submitted to Pen*
ander, who decided it in favour of the Athenians.

II. In consequence of this victory the MitylensBsns held
Pittacus in the greatest honour, and committed the supreme
power into his hiuids. And he held it for ten years, and then,
when he had brought the city and constitution into good order,
he resigned the government. And he lived ten years aflter
that» and the Mitylenieans assigned him an estate, which he
consecrated to the God, and to this day it is called the Pitta-
cian land, fiut Soncrates says that he cut off a small portion
of it, saying that half was more than the whole ; ana when
CrGBsns offered him some money he would not accept it, as he
said that he had already twice as much as he wanted ; for tlmt
he had succeeded to the inheritance of his brother, who had
died without children.

III. But Pamphila says, in the second book of his Com-
mentaries, that he had a son named Tyrrhxus, who was killed
while sitting in a barber's shop, at Cyma, by a brazier, who
threw an axe at him ; and that the Cymaeans sent the murderer
to Pittacus, who when he had learnt what had been done,

• dismissed the man, saying, " Pardon is better than repent-
ance." But Heraclitus says that the true story is, that he had
got Alcseus into his power, and that he released him, saying,
Pardon is better than punishment." He was also a law-

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LIVES OF EMINSNT PHILOSOPHERS.

giver ; and he made a law that if a man committed a crime
while drunk, he should have double punishment ; in the hope
of deterring men from getting drank, as wine was very
plentiful in the island.

IV. It was a saying of his that it was a hard thing to be
good, and this apophthegm is quoted by Simonides, who says,
** It iMis a flaying of Pittacus, that it is a hard thing to be
really a good man." Plato also mentions it in his Protagorss.
Another of his sayings was, " Even the Gods cannot strive
against necessity." Another was, "Power shows the man.**
Being once asked what was best, he replied, To do what one
is doing at the moment well.'' When Cropsus put the question
to him, " What is the greatest power V The power," he
replied, of the variegated wood,'' meaning the wooden tablets
of the laws. He used to say too, that tliere were some victories
without bloodshed. He said once to a man of Phocaea, who
was saying that we ought to seek out a virtuous man, ** But
if you seek ever so much you will not find one.*' Some people
once asked him what thing was very grateful ? and he replied,

Time.' —What was uncertain? "The future/'— What was
trusty? *'The land."— What was treacherous? "The sea"
Anouier saying of his was, that it was the part of wise men,
before difficult circumstances arose, to provide for their not
arising ; but that it was the part of brave men to make the
best St exisdng circumstances. He used to say too, " Do
not say before hand what you are going to do ; fi>r if you
fail, you will be laughed at/' " Do not reproach a man
with bis misfortunes, fearing lest Nemesis may overtake
you.** " If you have received a deposit, restore it." " Forbear
to apeak evu not only of your Mends, but also of your enemies."
"Practise piety, with temperance." "Cultivate truth, good
faith, experience, cleverness, sociability, and industry."

V. He wrote also some songs, of which the following is the
most celebrated one : —

The wise will only face the wicked man,

With bow in hand well bent,

And quiyer full of arrows —

For mieh a tongue aa his saya nothing tnu^

Prompted by a wily heart

To utter double efMeehefl.

He also composed six hundred verses in elegiac metro ; and

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PITTACDS. 87

be mote a treatise in piose, on Lavs, addressed to his eonntiy-
men.

YI. He flourished about the forty-second Olympiad ; and
be died when Aiistomenes was Archon, in the thiid year of
the fiffy-seoond Olympiad ; having lived more than seventy
years, being a rery old man. And on bis tomb is this in-
scription

Lesbos who bore him here, with tears doth bury
Hyrradiud' worthy son, wise Pittacua.

Another saying of his was, " Watch your opportunity.'*

VII. There was also ar other Pitta^us, a lawgiver, as Favo-
rinus tells us in the fii'st book of his Commentaries; and
Demetrius says so too, in his Essay on Men and Things of the
same name. And that other Pittacus was called Pittacus the less.

VIII. But it is said that the wise Pittacus once, when a
young man consulted him on the subject of marriage, made
him the following answer, which is thus given by CaUimachus
in his Epigrams.

Hjrrradius' prudent fon, old Pittacus

The pride of Mitylene, once was asked

By an Atamean stranger ; " Tell me, sagc^

I have two marriages proposed to me ;

One maid mv equal is in birth and riches ;

The othef^B nr above me ; — which is best ?

Advise me now which shall I take to wife

Thus spoke the stranger ; but the aged priuc^

Raising his old man's staff before his face,

Said, " These will tell you all you want to know f

And pointed to eome boys, who with quick laahes

Were driving whipping tops along the street.

" Follow their steps," said he ; so he went near them

And heard them say, " Let each now mind his own,**—

So when the stranger heard the boys speak thus.

He pondered on thair woid% and hud asida

Ambitioua thoughts of an unequal marriage.

As then he took to shame the poorer bride^

So too do youy 0 reader, mind thy own.

And it seems that he may have here spoken from experience,
for his own wife ^vas of more noble birth than himself, since she
was the sister of Draco, the son of Penthilua ; and she gave
herself great airs, and tyrannized over him.

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UVE8 OF £mN£NT PHILOSOFKEB&

IX. Alcfeas calls Pittacus eoL^aircj; and tfa^aToc, because he
was splay-footed, and used to drag bis feet in ^^alking; he also
called him ;i^g/^ocr($^?jf, because he had scars on his feet which
were called y<ii^dhc. And yavori^, implying that he gave
himself airs witliout reason. And (pbsKujv and yaGr^m, because
he was fat. He also called him ^o^o6o^c7/3a^, because he had
weak eyes, and ayccffj^ro?, because he was lazy and dirty. He
used to grind corn for the sake of exercise, as Glearcbus, the
philosopher, relates.

X. There is a letter of his extant, which runs thus : —

PITTACUS TO €B(E8US.

You invite me to come to Lydia in order that T may see
your riches ; but I, even ^\^thout seeing them, do not doubt that
the son of Alyattes is the richest of monarchs. But I should
get no good by going to Sardis ; for I do not want gold myself,
but what I baye is sofficient for myself and my companioDS,
Still, I will come, in order to become acquainted with you as a
liospitable man.

LIFE OF BIAS.

I. Bias was a citizen of Priene, and the son of Teutamus, and
by Satyrus he is put at the head of the seven wise men. Some
writers affirm that he was one of the richest men of the city ;
but others say that he was only a settler. And Phanodicus
says, that he ransomed some Messenian maidens who had been
taken prisoners, and educated them as his own daughters, and
gave them dowries, and then sent them back to Messina to their
fathers. And when, as has been mentioned before, the tripod
was found near Athens by some fishermen, the brazen tripod
I mean, which bore the inscription — "For the Wise then
Satyrus says that the damsels (but others, such as Phano-
dicus, say that it was their father,) came into tlie assembly,
and said that Bias was the wise man — recounting what he had
done to them : and so the tripod was sent to him. But Bias,
when he saw it, said that it was Apollo who was *' the Wise,'*
and would not receive the tripod.

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BIA&

II. But others say that he consecrated it at Thebes to Her-
cules, because he himself \^'as a descendant of the Thebans,
who had sent a colony to Priene, as Phanodicos relates. It is
said also that when Alyattes was besieging Priene, Bias fattened
np two mules, and drove them into his camp ; and that the
king, seeing the condition that the mules were in, was astonished
at their being able to Spare food to keep the brute beasts so well,
and so he desired to make peace with them, and sent an am-
bassador to them. On this Bias, having made $ome heaps
of sand, and put com on the top, showed them to the conyoy ;
and Alyattes, hearing from him what he had seen, made peace
with the peopler of Priene ; and then, when he sent to Bias,
deskmg him to come quiddy to him, " Tell Alyattes, from
me," he replied, '* to eat onions ;**— -which is the same as if he
had said, go and weep.**

III. It is said that he was very energetic and eloquent when
pleading causes ; but that he always reserved Ms talents for
the right side. In reference to whidi Demodicus of Alerius
uttered the following enigmatical saying — If you are a judge,
giye a Prieniaa deosion." And Hipponax aays, '* More ex-
cellent in his decisions than Bias of Priene.'' Now he died in
this manner

ly. Having pleaided a cause for some one when he was ex-
ceedingly old, futer he had finished speaking, he leaned back
with his head on the bosom of his daughter*s son ; and after the
advocate on the opposite side had spoken, and the judges had
given their decision in favour of Biases client, when the court
broke up he was found dead on his grandson^s bosom. And
the city buried him in the greatest magnificence, and put over
him this inscription^

Beneath this stone lies Bias, who was bom
In the illufltriouB Prienian land,
The glory of the whole Xouiau race.

And we ourselves have also written an epigram on him —

Here Bias lies, whom, when the hoary snow
Had crowned his aged temples, Mercuiy
Unpitying led to Pluto's darken'd realms.
Ho pleaded hSs frieiid'e causey and then redin^d
In ms cMd's tmB, vepos'd in hurtiiig deep.

Y. He also wrote about two thousand verses on Ionia, to

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LIVES OF EMINENT PHILOSOPHEKS.

show in what matter a man might hest arrive at happiness ; and
of all his poetical sayings these have the greatest rex->utatiou ^

Seek to please all the dtiseiu^ even tbougli
Tour house may be in an ungracious city.

For such a course will favour win from all :
But haughty xuaimera oft produce destruction.

And tlus one too

Oreat strength of body is the gift of nature ;
But to be able to advise whate'er
Is most expedieut for one's country's good^
Is the peeiuiar work of sense and wisdom.

Another is:—

Great riches come to many men by chance.

He used also to say that that man was unfortunate who
oould not support misfortune; and that it is a disease of the
mind to desire what was impossible, and to have no regard for
the misfortunes of odiers. Being asked what was difficult^ he
said — To bear a change d fortune for tiie worse with magna-
nimity." Once he was on a Toyage with some impious men,
and the vessel was overtaken by a storm ; so they be^an to in-
voke the assistance of the Gods ; on which he said, Hold your
tongues, lest they should find out that yott are in this ship."
When he was asked by an impious man what piety was, he
made no reply ; and when his questioner demanded th^ reason
of his silence, he said, I am silent because yon are pdtting
questions about things with which you have no concern.*'
Being asked what was pleasant to men, he replied, **Hope.''
It was a saying of his that it was more agreeable to decide
between enemies than between friends ; &r uiat of M^ds, one
was sure to become an enemy to him; bm that of enemies, one
was sure to become a Mend* When the questioii was put to «
him, what a man derived pleasuxe while he was doing, he
said, While acquiring gain.^* He Used to say, too, that men
ought to calculate life both as if they were &tea to live a long
and a short time : and that they ought to love one another as if
at a future time they would come to hate one another ; for that
most men were wicked* He used also to give the fbllowing
pieces of advice :— " Choose the course which you adopt with
deliberatiou ; but when you have adopted it, then persevere in

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CLEOBULUa

.41

it ^vith firmness. — Do not speak fast, for that shows folly. —
Love prudence. — Speak of the Gods as they are. — Do not
praise an undeserving man because of his liches. — Accept of
things, having procured them by persuasion, not by force.—
Whatever good fortune befalls you, attribute it to the gods.
— Cherish wisdom as a means of travelling from youtii to
old age, for it is more lasting than any other possession."

VI. Hipponax also mentions Bias, as has been said before ;
and Heraelitus too, a man who was not easily pleased, has
praised him ; sayin^^ in Priene there lived Bias the son of
Teutamiis, whose reputation is higher than that of the others ;
and the Prienians consecrated a temple to him which is-eaUed
the Teutamium. A saying of his iva8» *^3fo8t men ate
wicked."

LIFK OF CLEOBULUS.

I. GusoBULUs was a native of Lindus, and the son of
Eyagoras ; but according to Duris he was a Oanan ; o^ers
ag^n trace his funily back to Hercules. He is reported to
luLve been eminent for personal strength and beauty, and to
bare studied philosophy in Egypt ; he had a daughter named
Cleobuiina, who used to compose enigmas in hexameter Terse,
and she is mentioned by Cratinus in his play of the same
name, except that the title is written in the plural number.
They say also that he restored the temple of Minerra which
had been built by Danaus.

II. Cleobulus composed songs and obscure sajrings in verse
to the number of three thousand lines, and some say that it was
he who composed the epigram on Midas.

I am a brazen maiden lying here
Upon the tumb of Midas. And aa long
As water flows, as trees are green with Imfw,
As the SUA ebiiies and eke the silter moon,

As long aa rivers flow, and billows roar,
So long will I upon this much wept tomb,
Tell passers by, " Midas lies buried here."

And a.s nn evidence of this epigram being by him they quote
a soug of Simonidesy which runs thus

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4*2 LIVES OF £MIK£NT PHILOSOPHEBS.

V What men possessed of sense

Would ever praiae the Lindiau Cleobiilus ?

Who could compare a statue made by man

To everflowing Btreams,

To blushing flowers of spiring,

To the sun's rays, to beams o' the golden mom.

And to the ceaseless waven of lui^bty Ocean ?

Ail things are trihing when compared to God.

Wliile men beneath tbeir bancU can oniah a stone ;

So that such sentimemtB can only oome from, f oohk

And the epigram cannot possibly be by Homer, for he lived
many years, as it is said, before Midas.

III. There is also the following enigma quoted in the
Commentaries of Pamphila, as the work of Cleobulus : —

There was one father and he had twelve daughteray
Each of his danghtei s liad twice thirty children.
But most unlike in figure and complexion ;
For some were white, and others black to view,
And though Smmortal they all taate of death. •

And the solution is, " the year."

IV. Of liis apophthegms, the following are the most ceTe-
lebrated. Ignorance and talkativeness bear the chief sway
anioug men. Opportunity will be the most powerful. Cherish
not a thought. I)o not be fickle, or ungrateful. He used to
say too, that men ought to give their daughters in marriage
while they were girls in age, but women in sense; as indicating
by this that girls ought to be well educated. Another of liis
sayings was, that one ought to serve a friend that he may be-
come a greater friend ; and an enemy, to make him a friend.
And that one ought to guard against giving one's friends occa-
sion to blame one, and one's enemies opportunity of plotting
against one. Also, when a man goes out of his house, he should
consider what he is going to do : and when he comes home
again he should consider what he has done. He used also to
advise men to keep their bodies in health by exercise. — To be
fond of hearing rather than of talking. — To be fond of learning
rather than unwilling to learn. — To speak well of people. — To
seek virtue and eschew vice. — To avoid injustice. — To give the
best advice in one's power to one's countr)^ — To be supeiior to
pleasure. — To do nothiDg force. — To instruct one's children,

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FEBIANDBR.

—To he ready for reconciliation after qoarrels. — Not to caress
one's wife, nor to quarrel with her when strangers are present,
for that to do the one is a sign of folly, and to do the latter is
downright madness. — ^Not.to chastise a servant while elated
with dmik, forso doing one will appear to he drunk one's self. —
To many tmm among one*s equals, for if one takes a wife of a
higher rank than one*s self, one will have one's connexions for
one's masters. — ^Not to laugh at those who are heing reproved,
for so one will he detested hy them. — Be not hai^hty when
prosperous. — ^Be not desponding when in difficulties. — Learn to
bear the changes of fortune wi£ magnanimity.

V. And he died at a great age, having lived seventy years,
and this inscription was put over him

His country, Lindus, this fair aea-girt city
Bewails wise Cleobulua here entombed.

VI. One of his sayings was, Moderation is the best thmg.*'
He also wrote a letter to Solon in these terms : —

OLEOBULUS TO SOLON.

You have many friends, and a home everywhere, hut yet
I think tliat Lindus will be the most agreeable habitation for.
Solon, since it enjoys a democratic government, and it is a ma-
ritime island, and whoever dwells in it has nothing to fear from
Pisistratus, and you will have friends flock to you fi'om all
quarters.

LIFE OF PERIANDER.

I. PfeBTAiffDJBR was a Corinthian, the son of Cypselus, of the
Cunily of the HeradidsB. He married Lyside (whom he
bimself called Melissa), ^e daughter of Prodes the tyrant of
Bptdaurus, and of Erisdienea the daughter of Aristocmtes, and
sister of Arlstodemos, who governed nearly all Arcadia, as He^
nclides Ponticus says in his Treatise on Dominion and had by
her two sons Cypselus and Lycophron, the younger of whom was
adever boy, but the elder was defident in intellect^ At a sub-
sequent period he in a rage either kicked or threw his wife down
stairs when she was pregnant, and so killed her, being wrought

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UV£8 OF EMINENT PHILOSOPHERS.

upon by the false accusations of his concttbines, whom be after-
wards burnt alive. And the child, whose name was Lyoopbron;
be sent away to Corcjra because he grieved lor bis mother.

II. But afterwards, when he was now extremely old, he sent
for him back again, in order that he might succeed to the
tyranny. But the Corey reans, anticipatiDg his intention, put
him to death, at which he was greatly enraged, and sent their
children to Corcyrato be made eonuobs of ; and when the 8bi{l
came near to Samos, the youths, having made supplications to
Juno, were saved by the Sunians. And he fell into despondency
and died, being eigbl?jr years old. Sosicrates says that he died
ibrty-one years b^re Croesus, in the last year of llie forty-
eighth Olympiad. Herodotus, in the first book of his Historj;
says that he was connected by ties of hospitality with Thrasy*
bdus the tyrant of Miletus. And Aristippus, in the first book
of his Treatise on Ancient Luxury, tdls the following story
of him ; that his mother Cratea fell in bve with him, and in-
troduced herself secretly into his bed ; and he was delighted ;
but when the truth was discovered he became very oppressive
to all his subjects, because he was grieved at the discovery.
Ephorus relates that he made a vow that, if he gained the
victory at Olympia in the chariot race, he would dedicate a
golden statue to the Grod. Accordingly he gained the victory ;
but being in want of gold, and seeing the women at some
national festival beautifully adorned, he took away their golden
ornaments, and then sent the oifering which he had vowed.

III. But some writers say that he was anxious that his tomb
should not be known, and tliat with that object he adopted the
following contrivance. He ordered two young men to go out
by night, indicating a particular road by wliich t])ey were to go,
and to kill the fii st man they met, and bury him ; after them
he sent out four other men who were to kill and bury them.
Again he sent out a still greater number against these four,
with similar instructions. And in this manner he put himself
in the way of the first pair, and was slain, and the Corinthians
erected a cenotaph over him with tha following inscription '.-^

The sea-beat land of Oorinfh in her bosom,
Doth here embrace her ruler Periander,
Greateit of all men for his wealth and wisdom.

We ourselves have also written an epigram upon Ixim : —

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PBRIANDBE.

Grieve not when disappointed of a wish,

But be content with what the Gods may give you—

For the great Per lander died nnhappyi

At failing m an object he desired.

IV. It was a saying of his that we ought not to do anything
for the aake of money ; for that we ought only to acquire audi
gffius as are allowable. He composed apophthegms in Terse to
die number of two thousand lines ; and said that those who
mhed to wield absolute power in safety, should be guarded by
the good will of their oountr) moi, and not by arms. And
once, being asked why he assumed tyrannical power, he replied,
*' Because, to abdicate it Yoluntarily, and to hare it taken from
one, are both dangerous.** The following sayings also belong
to him Tranquillity is a ^od thing. — Bashness is danger-
ous. — Gain is disgracefol. — democracy is better than tyranny.
'•^Pleasures are transitory, but honour is immortal. — Be
moderate when prosperous, but prudent when unfortunate. —
Be the same to your friends when they are prosperous, and
when they are unfortunate. — "Whatever you agree to du, observe
•~Do not divulge secrets. — Punish not only those who do
vrong, but those who intend to do so.

V. This prince was the first who had body-guards, and who
changed a legitimate power into a tyranny ; and he would not
allow any one who chose to live in his city, as Euphorus and
Aristotle tell us.

VI. And he flourished about the thirty-eighth Olympiad, and
enjoyed absolute power for forty years. But Sotion, and He-
rarlides, and Pamphila, in the fifth book of her Commen-
taries, says that there were two Perianders ; tbe one a tyrant,
and the other a wise man, and a native of Ambracia. And
Neanthes of Cyzicus makes the same assenion, adding, that
the two men were cousins to one another. And Aristotle savs,
that it was the Corinthian Periander who was the wise one ;
but Plato contradicts him. The saying—** Practice does
everything," is his. He it was, also, who proposed to cut
through the Isthmus*

VII. The following letter o£ his is quoted :—

P£BUNI>£B TO THE WISE HEN.

I give groat thanks to Apollo of Delphi that my letters are

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46 LIVES OF EMINENT PHILOSOPHEBS.

able to determine you all to meet together at Corinth ; and I
will receive you all, asyoa may be well assured, in a manner
that becomes free citizens. I hear also that last year you met
at Sardis, at the court of the King of Lydia. So now do not
hesitate to come to me, who am the tyrant of Corinth ; for the
* Corinthians wHl all be delighted to see you come to the house
of Periander.

VIII. There is this letter too :~

PERIANDER TO PBOCLES*

The injury of mj wife was nnintended by me ; and you
have done wrong in alienating from me the mind of my child.
I desire you, therefore, either to restore me to my place in his
affections, or I will revenj^e mvself on you : for I have myself
made atouciuciit for tlie death of your daughter, by burnmg in
her tomb the clothes of all the Corinthian women.*

IX. Tluasybulus also wrote him a letter in the following
terras

I have given no answer to your messenger; but having
taken him into a field, I struck with my walking-stick all the
highest ears of corn, and cut off their tops, while he was walking
with me. And he will report to you, if you ask him, every-
thing which he heard or saw while with me; and do you act
accordingly if you wish to preserve your power safely, taking
off the most eminent of the citizens, whether he seems an
enemy to you or not, as even his companions are deservedly
objects of suspicion to a man possessed of supreme power.

LIFE OF ANACHARSIS, THE SCYTHIAN.

I. Anacharsis the Scythian was the son of Gnurus, and
the brother of Caduides the king of the Scythians ; but his
mother was a Grecian woman ; owing to which circumstance
he imderstood both languages.

II. He wrote about the laws existing among the Scythians,
and also about those in force among the Greeks, urging men

* Herodotus mentions the case of Periander^s ohildren, ilL 50, and
the death of bis wife, and bis bunung the dothea of aU the Conntinan
womeiii y. 92,

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ANACHABSIS.

to adopt a temperate course of life; and he wrote also about war,
liis works being in verse, and amounting to eight hundred lines*
He gave occasion for a proverb, because he used great freedom
of speech, so that people called such freedom the Scythian

conversation.

III. But Sosicrates says that he came to Athens in the
forty-seventh Olympiad, in the archonsbip of £ucrates. And
Hermippns asserts that he came to Solon's house, and ordered
OBO of the servants to go and tell his master that Anacharsis was
come to viat him, and was desirous to see him, and, if possible,
to enter into relations of hospitality with him. But when the
servant had given the message, he was ordered by Solon to reply
to him that, Men generally limited such alliances to their
own countrymen." In reply to this Anacharsis entered the
bouse, and told the servant that now he was in Solon's country^
and that it was quite consistent for them to become connected
with one another in this way* On this, Solon admired the
readiness of the man, and admitted him, and made him one of
his greatest friends.

IV. But after some time, when he had returned to Scythia,
and shown a purpose to abrogate the existing institutions of his
country, being exceedingly earnest, in his fondness for Gredan'
customs, he was shot by his brother while he was oat hunting,
and so he died, saying, '* That he was sayed on account of the
sense and eloquence which he had brought from Greece, but
slain in consequence of envy in his own mmily." Some, how-
ever, relate that he was slain while performing some Grecian
sacrificatory rites. And we have writt^ this epigram on him

When Anacharsis to bis land returned,
His mind was turn'd, bo that he wished to make
H!b ccrantiymen all Hyo in Qreciaii ftahioii —
So, ere his words bad well escaped his l^pa^
A winged anow bore him to the QocU.

V. He said tluit ii vine bore three bunches of grapes. The
first, the bunch of pleasure ; the second, that of druiikenuess ;
the third, that of disgust. He also said that he marvelled that
aiiioiig the Greeks, those who were skilful in a thing contend
together; but those who have no such skill act as judges of the
contest. Being once asked how a person might be made not
fond of drinking, he said, "If he always keeps in view tlie
indecorous actious of drunken men." He used also to say*

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Liy£S OF £MIN£NT PHILOSOPHEBa

that he marvelled how the Greeks, wlio raake laws against
those who behave with insoleDce, honour Athletae because of
their beating one another. When he had been informed that
the sides of a ship were four fingers thick, he said, ** That those
w^ho sailed in one were removed by just that distance from
death. He used to say that oil was a provocative of madness,
'* because Athlet», when auoiuted iu the oil, attacked oue
another with mad fuiy."

** How is it," he used to say, " that those who forbid meu
to speak £ai8ely» tell lies openly in their vintners' shops
It was a saying of his, that he ** marvelled why the Greeks, at
the beginning of a banquet, drink out of small cups, hut when
they have drunk a good deal, then they turn to large goblets."
And this inscription is on bis statues—*^ Bestrain your tongues,
your appetites^ and your passions.** He was once asked
if the flute was known among the Scythians ; and he said, No,
nor the vine either." At another time, the question was put
to him, which was the safest kind of vesscd? and be said.

That which is brought into dock.'* He said, too, that the
strangest things that he had seen among the Greeks was, that
** Tkey left the smoke* in the mountains, and carried the wood
down to their cities.*' Once, when he was asked, which were
the more numerous^ the living or the dead? he said, Undar
which head do you class those who are at sea.** Being re-
proached by an Athenian for being a Scythian, he said, " Well,
my country is a disgrace to me, but you are a disgrace to your
country." When he was asked what there was among men
which was bothgood and bad, he replied, " The tongue." He
used to say That it was better to have one friend of great
value, than many fiiends who were good for nothing/ Another
saying of his was* that The ibrum was an established place
for men to cheat one another, and behave coyetously.** Being
once insulted by a young man at a drinking party, he said,

0, young man, if now that you are young you cannot bear
wine, when you are old you will have to bear water. **

YI. Of tfaii]^ which are of use in life, he is said to have
been the inventor of the anchor, and of the potter's wheel.

* Some propose to read civpr^, A^^^^ ioBtead of cairv^y, tmoke, here ;
others explain this saying as meaning that the Qreeks avoided bouses
on the hills in order not to be annoyed with the smoke from the low
cottages, and yet did not use coal, but wood, which made more smoke.

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MTSON.

VII. The following letter of his is extant

AKACHAB8IS TO CA(£SUS.

0 king of the Lydians, I am come to the country of the
Greeks, in order to become acquainted with their customs and
institutions ; but 1 have no need of gold, and shall be quite
contented if I return to Scytbia a better man than I left it.
However I will come to Sardis, as I think it very desirable to
become a friend of yours.

LIFE OF MYSON.

I. Mtbok, tiie son of Strymon, bb Soddates states, quoting
Hermippus as his authority, a Chenean by birth, of some
MtBseax or Laoonian village, is reckoned one of the seven wise
men, and they say that his father was tyrant of his country. It

is said by some writers that, when Anacharsis inquired if any
one was wiser than he, the priestess at Delphi gave the
answer which has been already quoted in the hfe of Thales
in reference to Chilo :—

I flay that Myson the MtgsBB. sage^
The citizen of Chen, is wiser £ur
In his deep mind than you.

Aad that he, having taken a great deal of trouble, came to the
village, and ^^und mm in the sammar season fitting a handle
to a plough, and he addressed him, 0 Myson, this is not
now the season iot the plough." Indeed," said he, " it is a
capital season for preparing one;*' but others say, that the
words of the oracle are the Etean sage, and they raise the ques-
tion, what the word Etean means. So Parmenides says, that
it is a borough of Laconia, of which Myson was a native ;
but Sosicrates, in his Successions says, that he was an Etean
on his &ther*s side, and a Ghenean by his mother^s. Bilt
Euthyphron, the son of Henctides Ponlieus, says that he was
a Gietan, for that Etea was a city of Crete.

II. And Anazilaus says that he was an Arcadian. Hipponax
also mentions him, saying, And Myson, whom Apolb stated

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LIVES OF EMINENT PHILOSOPHEB&

to be the most prudnnt of all men." But Aristoxenus, in his
Miscellanies, says that his habits ^Yere not very different from
those of Timon and Apemantus, for that he was a misanthrope.
And that accordingly he was one day found in Laced»mon
laughing by himself in a solitary place, and when some one
oame up to him on»a sudden and asked him why he laughed
when he was bj himself, he said, "For that very reason.
Aristoxenus tMO says th^t he was not thought much of,
because he was not a native of any city, but only of a viUage,
and that too one of no great note ; and according to him, it is
on account of this obscurity of his that some people attribute
his sayings and doings to Pisistratos the tyrant, but he excepts
Plato the philosopher, for he mentions Myson in his Prota-
goras, placing him among the wise men instead of Periander.
^ III. It used to be a common saying of his that men ought
not to seek for things in words, but for words in Ihmgs ; for
that things are not made on account of words, but that words
are put together for the sake of things.

lY. He died when he had lived ninety-seTen years.

LIFE OF EPIMENIDES.

I. Epimentdes, as Theopompus and many other writers tell
us, was the son of a man named Pha}drus, but some call him
the son of Dosiadas ; and others of Agesarchus. He was a
Cretan hy hirth, of the city of Gnossus ; but because he let his
hair grow long, he did not look Hke a Cretan.

TT. He once, when he was sent by his father into the fields
to look for a sheep, turned out of the road at mid-day and lay
down in a certain cave and fell asleep, and slept there fifty-
seven years ; and after that, when he awoke, he went on looking
for the sheep, thinking that he had been taking a short nap;
but as he could not find it he went on to the field and there he
found eveiythiug changed, and the estate in another person's
possession, and so he came back again to the diy in great
perplexity, and as he was going into his own house he met
some people who asked him who he was, until at last he found

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Us joTiDger brother who had now become an old man, and
from him he learnt all the trath.

III. And when be was recognized be was considered by the
Greeks as a person especially beloved by the Gods, on which
account when the Athenians were afflicted by a plague, and
the priestess at Delphi enjoined them to purify their city,
they sent a ship and Nicias the son of Niceratus to Crete, to
invite Epimenides to Athens ; and he, coming there in the forty-
sixth Ol^-mpiad, puritied tlie city and eradicated the pla^^ue for
that time ; he took some black sheep and some \vljite ones and
led them up to the Areopagus, and from tUeuce he let them
go wherever they chose, having ordered the attendants to
fuUow them, and wherever any one of them lay down they
\Nerc to sacrifice Ijim to the God who was the patron of the
spot, and so the evil was stayed ; and owing to this one may
even now find in the different horoughs of the Athenians
altars without names, which are a sort of memorial of the
propitiation of the Gods that then took place. Some said that-
the cause of the plague was the pollution contracted by the
city in the matter of Cylon, and that Epimenides pointed out
to the Athenians how to get rid of it, and that in consequence
they put to death two young men, Cratinus and Ctesilius, and
that thus the pestilence was put an end to.

III. And the Athenians passed a vote to give him a talent
and a ship to convey him back to Crete, but he would not
accept the money, but made a treaty of Mendship and alliance
between the Gnossians and Athenians.

IV. And not long after he had returned home he died, as
Phlegon relates in his book on long-lived people, after he had
lived a hundred and fifty-seven years ; but as the Cretans
report he had lived two hundred and ninety-nine ; but as
Xenophones the Colophonian, states that he had heard it
reported, he was a hundred and fifty-fonr years old when he
died.

V. He wrote a poem of five thousand verses on the Gene-
lation and Theogony of the Guretes and Gorybantes, and
another poem of six thousand five hundred verses on the
building of the Aigo and the expedition of Jason to Golchis.

VI. He also wix»te a treatise in prose on the Sacrifices
in Crete, and the Gretan Constitution, and on Minos «nd,
Bhodamanthus, occupying four thousand lines.

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5d UVBB OF BMINBHT PHXLOBOPHXBa

VI. Likewise he built at Athens the temple which is there
dedicated to the veneiable goddesses, as Lobon the Augur sajB
in his book on Poets ; and be is said to have been the fint
person who purified houses and lands, and who built temples.

YII. There are some people who assert that he did not
sleep for the length of time tnat has been mentioned above»
but that he was absent ftom his country for a considerable
period, occupying himself with the anatomisation and ex-
amination of roots.

VIII. A letter of his is quoted, addressed to Solon the
lawgiYcr, in which he discusses the constitution which Minos
gave the Cretans* But Demetrius the Magnesian, in his
treatise on Poets and Prose writers of the same name as one
another, attempts to prove that the letter is a modem one,
and is not written in the Cretan but in the Attic dialect, and
the new Attic too.

IX. But I have also discovered another letter of liis which
rum thus :— .

SPIMEMIDES TO SOLON.

Be of good cheer, ray friend ; for if Pisistratus had imposed
his laws on the Athenians, they being habituated to slavery
and not accustomed to good laws previously, he would have
maintained his dominion for ever, succeeding easily in en-
slaving his fellow countrymen ; but as it is, he is lording it over
men who are no cowards, but who remember the precepts of
Solon and are indignant at their bonds, and who will not
endure the supremacy of a tyrant. But if Pisistratus does
possess tbe city to-day, still I have no expectation that the
supreme power will ever descend to his children. For it is
impossible that men who have lived in freedom and in the
enjoyment of most excellent laws should be slaves perma-
nently : but as for yourself, do not you go wandering al)Out at
random, but come and visit me, for here there is no supreme
ruler to be formidable to you ; but if while you are wandering
about anj of the friends of Pisistratus should iSall in with yon,
I fear you might suffer some misfortune.

He then wrote thus :—

X. But Demetrius says that some writers report that he
used to receive food from the nymphs and keep it in a
bttllock*s hoof ; and that eating it in small quantities he neyer

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PHEREOYDES.

reqaiied any evacuations, and was never seen eating. And
Timaeus mentions him in his second book.

XI. Some authors say also that the Cretans saerifice to him
as a god, for they say that be was the wisest of men ; and
aocsoiding^y, that when he saw the port of Munychia,* at
Athens, he said that the Athenians did not know how many
evils that place would bring npon them : since, if they did,
they would tear it to pieces with their teeth ; and he said this
a long time before the event to which he alluded. It is said
also, that he at ftrst called himself ^acus ; and that he fore-
told to the Lacednmonians the defeat which they should Buffer
from the Arcadians ; and that be pretended that he had lived
several times. But Theopompus, in his Strange Stories, says
that when he was building the temple of the Nymphs, a voice
burst forth &om heaven ; — " Oh ! Epimenides, build this
temple, not for the Nymphs but for Jupiter.'* He also fore-
told to the Cretans the defeat of the Iiacedamdonians by the
Arcadians, as has been said before. And, indeed, they were
beaten at Orchomenos.

XII. He pretended also, that he grew ohl rapidly, in the
same number of days as he had been years asleep ; at least,
60 Theopompus says. But Wysonianus, in his Coincidences,
says, that the Cretans call him one of the Curetes. And the
Lacedasmonians preserve his body among them, in obedience
to some oracle, as Sosilius the Lacedsemonian says.

XIII. There were also two other Epimenides, one the
genealogist ; the other, the man who wrote a history of lihodea
in the Doric dialect.

LIFE OF PHEKBOTDES.

I. Phrbecidbs ym a Syrian, the son of Babys, and, as Alex-
ander says, in his Successions, he had been a pupil of Httacus.

* This refers to the result of the war which Antipater, who became
regent of Macedonia on the death of Alexander the Great, carrisd on
against the confederacy of Qreek states, of which Athens was the
Dead ; aad in which, after haying defeated them at Crmon, he com-
pelled the Athenians to aboliah the democracy, and to admit a gmaon,
into Munyehia*

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LIir£S OF EMINENT PfilLOSOFHEBS,

II. Theopompus says that he was the first person who erer
wrote among the Greeks on the subject of Natuial Philosophy
and the Gods. And there are many marvellous stories told of
him. For it is said that he was walking along the sea-shore
at Samos, and that seeing a ship sailing by with a fair wind, be
said that it woul 1 soon sink ; and presently it sank before their
eyes. At another time he was drinking some water which had
been drawn up out of a well, and he foretold that within three
days there would be an earthquake ; and there was one. And
as he was going up to 01ympia» and had arriTed at Messene,
he advised his entertainer, Perilaus, to nugrate from the city
with all his £uni]y, but that Perilans would not be guided by
him ; and afterwards Messene was taken.

III. And he is said to have told the LacediemoniaDS to
honour neither gold nor silver, as Theopompus says in his
Marvels ; and it is reported that Hercules laid tfcds injunc-
tion on him in a dream, and that the same night he appeared
also to the kings of Sparta, and enjoined them to be guided by
Pherecydes ; Imt some attribute these stories to Pythagoras.

lY. And Hennippus relates that when there was a war
between the Ephesians and Magnesians, he, wishing the Ephe-
sians to conquer, asked some one, who was passing by, from
whence he came ? and when he said, *' From Ephesus," " Drag
me now," said be, " by tbe legs, and place me in the terrritory
of the Magnesians, and tell your fellow countrvmen to bury me
there after they have got the victory ; and that he went and re-
ported that Pherecydes luitl given him tliis order. And so they
went forth the next day and defeated the Magnesians ; and as
Pherecydes was dead, they buried him there, and paid him
very splendid honours.

V. But some writers say that he went to Delphi, and threw
himself down from the Curycian hill ; Aristoxenus, in his
History of Pythagoras and his Friends, says that Pherecydes
fell sick and died, and was buried by Pythagoras in Delos ;
But others say that ho died of the lousy disease ; and when
Pytluxgoras came to see him, and asked liim how he was, he put
his linger through the door, and said, " You may see by my
skin." And from this circumstance tliat expression passed
into a ])r()verb among tbe philosophers, when affairs are going
on badly : and those who apply it to affairs that are go ng on
well, make a blunder. He used to say, also, that Uie Gods
call their table ^uat^ig.

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FHEBB0YD£8.

VI. But Andron, tbe Ephesian, says that there were t^YO
men of tbe name of Pherecydes, both Syrians : one an astro-
nomer, and tbe other a writer on God and tbe Divine Nature ;
and that this last was the son of Babys, who was also tbe master
of Pythagoras, But Eratosthenes asserts that there was but
one, who was a Syrian ; and that the other Pherecydes was an
Athenian, a genealogist ; and the work of the Syrian Phere-
cydes is preserved, and it begins thus : — ** Jupiter, and Time,
and Chthon existed extemalij." And the name of Cthonia
l)ecame Tellus, alter Jupiter gave it to her as a reward. A
sun-dial is also preserved, in Uie island of Syra, of his making.

VII. But Duns, in the seoond book of his Boundaries^
sajs that this epignm was written upon' him : —

The limit of all wisdom is in me ;

And would be, wm it laxger. Bat leport

To my Vy^bstgonB that he's the first

Of all the men that tread the Qredan soil ;

I shall not speak a faMuxtd, saying this.

And Ion, the Ghian, says of him

•

Adorned wiih valour while alive, and modeBiy»

Now that he's dead he still exists in peace ;
For, like the wise Pythagoras, he studied
Tha manners and the minds of many nations.

And I myself hare composed an epigxamonhim in the Ffaere-
cratean metre

The story is reported,

That noble Pherecydes

Whom Syros calls her own,

Was €at«a up by lioe |

And so he bade his fhendi^

Convey his corpse away

To the Magnesian land,

That he might victory give

To holy Ephesns.

For well the Qod had said,

(Thongh he alone did knOW

Th' oracular prediction),

That this was fate's decree.

So in jihat land he lies.

This then is surely true,

That those who're really inse

Are useful while alive,

And e'en when breath baa left them.

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UTIB OF SmilXMT FHILO0OFHEBS.

YIIL And bd flomuiied about the fiflty-nmdi Olympiad.
There is a letter of his extant in the foUowing tenns: —

PHBBECTDES TO THALB8.

May you die happily when fate overtakes you. Disease
has seized upon me at the same time that I received your
letter. I am all over lice, and suffering likewise under a low
fever. Accordingly, T have charged my servants to convey this
hook of mine to you, after they have buried me. And do you,
if you think fit, after consulting witli the other wise men, publish
it ; but if you do not approve of doing so, then keep it unpubhshed,
for I am not entirely pleased with it myself. The subject is
not one about which there is any certain knowledge, nor do I
undertake to say that I have arrived at the truth ; but 1 have
advanced aigoments, from whioh any one who oocapies himself
with speculations on the divine nature, may make a selection ;
and as to other points, he must exercise his intellect, for I
speak obscurely throug^bout I, myself, as I am afflicted more
severely by this disease every day, no longer admit any phy-
sicians, or any of my friends. But when they stand, at the
door, and ask me how I am, I put out my finger to them through
the opening of the door, and show them how I am eaten up with
the evil; and I desired them to come to-monow to the fbneral
of Fheiecydes.

These, then, are they who were called wise men ; to which
list some writers add &e name of Fisistratos. But we must
also speak of the philosophers* And we will begin first with
the Ionic philosophy, the founder of which school was Thales,
who was the master of Anaximander.

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BOOK II.

LIFE OF ANAXIMANDEE.

I. AxtAJOMMmmt the son of Pnudadas, ms a dtizen of

Hiletus.

II. He used to assert that the principle and primaTy element
of all things was the Infinity, giving no exact definition as to
whether he meant air or water, or anything else. And he
said that the parts were susceptible of change, hut that the
^ole was unchangeable ; and that the earth lay in the middle,
being placed there as a sort of centre, of a spherical shape.
The moon, he said, had a bonowed light, and borrowed it from
the sun; and the son he affirmed to be not less than the earth,

and the purest possible fixe.

III. He also was the first disoorerer of the gnomon; and he
placed some in LacedflBmon on the smi-dials there, as Pharo-

, rinus says in his Universal HiBtoiy,and they showed tiie solstices
and the equinoxes ; he also nutde docks. He was the first
person, too, who drew a map of the earth and sea, and he also
made a globe ; and he pubushed a concise statement of what-
ever opinions he embrued or entertained ; and Ibis treatise
was met with by Apollodorus, the Athenian.

IV. And Apollodorus, in his Chronicles, states, that in the
second year of the fifty-eighth Olympiad, he was sixty-four
years old. And soon after he died, having flourished much
about the same time as i*o]ycrates, the tyrant, of Samos. They
say that when he sang, the children laughed ; and that he,
hearing of this, said, ** We must then sing better for the sake of
the children."

V. There was also another Anaximander, a historian ; and
he too was a Milesian, and wrote in the Ionic dialect.

LIFE OF ANAXIMENES.

I. ANAxmsKBS, the son of Eurystratus, a Milesian, was a
pupil of Anaximander ; but some say that he was also a pupil
of Parmenides. He said that the principles of OTeiything

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LIVES OF EMINEliT PfiILOSOPH£B&

were the air, and the Infinite ; and that the stars moved DOt
under the earth, but around the earth. He wrote in the pure
unmixed Ionian dialect. And he lived, according to the state-
ments of Apollodorus, in the sixty-third Olympiad, aud died
about the time of the taking of Sardis.

II. There ^verc also two other persons of the ivdme of
Anaximenes, both citizens of Lampsacus ; one an orator and
the other a historian, who was the son of the sister of the
orator, and who wrote an account of the exploits of Alexander.

III. Aud this philosopher wrote the following letters ;—

ANA2LIMENE8 TO PXTHAGOBAS.

Thales, the son of Euzamias, has died in his old age, by
an unfortunate accident In the evening, as he was accus-
tomed to do> he went forth out of the vestibule of his house
with his maad-servanti to observe the stars : and (for he had
forgotten the existence of the place) while he was looking up
tomrds the skies, he fell down a precipitous place. So now
the astronomer of Miletus has met with this end. But we
who were his pupils cherish the recollection of the man, and
so do our children and our own pupils: and we will lecture on
his principles. At all events, tlie beginning of all wisdom
ought to be attributed to Thales.

IV. And again he writes

ASAXnSXSEa to FrtHAaOBAS.

You are more prudent than we, in that you have migrated
from Samos to Crotona, and live there in peace. For the
descendants of iEacus commit unheard-of crimes, and tyrants
never cease to oppress the Milesians. The king of the Modes
too is formidable to us : unless, indeed, we choose to become
tributary to him. But the lonians are on the point of
engaging in w^ar with the Modes in the cause of universal
freedom. For if we remain quiet there is no longer any hope
of safely for us. How then can Anaximenes apply his mind
to the contemplation of the skies, while he is in perpetual
fear of death or slavery ? But you are beloved by the people
of Crotona, and by all the rest of the ItaliaxkS ; and pupils
flock to you» even from Sicily.

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ANAXAGOHAa

LIFE OF ANAXAGOEAS.

I. Anaxagoras, the son of Hegesibulus, or Eubulus, was a
citizen of Clazonieiifi). lie was a pupil of Anaximenes, .and
was the first philosopher who attributed mind to matter,
beginning his treatise on the subject in the following manner
(and the whole treatise is written in a most beautiful and
magnificent style) : " All things were mixed up together ;
then Mind came and axranged them all in distinct order."
On which account he himself got the same name of Mind.
And Timon speaks thus of him in his Silli : —

They say too that wife Annxnj^onis
Deserves immortal fame ; they ciill him Mind,
Because, as he doth teach, Mind came iu iieason,
Anranging all ^vbidi wm oonf^'d l)efore.

IT. He was eminent for his noble birth and for his riches,
and still more so for his magnanimity, inasmuch as he gave up
all his patrimony to his relations ; and being blamed by them
for his neglect of his est^ite, ** Why, then," said he, " do not
you take care of it?" And at last he abandoned it entirely,
and devoted himself to the contemplation of subjects of natural
philosophy, disregarding politics. So that once when some
said to him, " You have no affection for your country," " Be
silent," said he, for I have the greatest affection for my
country," pointing up to heaven.

III. It is said, that at the time of the passage of the
Hellespont by Xerxes, he was twenty years old, and that he
lived to the age of seventy-two. But Apollodorus, in his
Chronicles says that ho flourished in the seyentieth Olympiad,
and that he died in the first year of the seventy-eighth. And
he began to study philosophy at Athens, in the archonship of
Callias, being twenty years of age, as Demetrius Phalerius
tells us in his Catalogue of the Archons, and tiiey Bay that he
remained at Athens thirty yeaiB.

IV. He asserted that the sun was a mass of burning iron,
greater tiian Peloponnesus; (that some attribute this doc-
trine to Tantalus), and that the moon contained houses^ and
also hills and ravines : and that the primary elements of
ereiything were sunilaritiea of parts ; for as we say that gold
consists of a qamlatj of grains combined together, so too
is the modyerse formed of a number of small bodies of similar

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LIVES OF £MI2f£NT PHILOSOPHERS.

parts. He further taught that Mind was the principle of
motion : and that of bodies the heavy ones, such as the earth,
occupied the lower situations ; and the light ones, such as
fire, occupied the higher places, and that the middle spaces
were assigned to water and air. And thus that the sea rested
upon the earth, which was broad, the moisture being all
evaporated by the sun. • And he said that the stars originally
moved about in irregular confusion, so that at first the pole
star, which is continuallj visible, always appeared in the
zenith, but that afterwards it acquired a certain declination.
And that the milky way was a refiectiou of the light of the
sun when the stars did not appear. The comets he considered
to be a conconrse of planets emitting tajs : and the shooting
stars he thought were sparks as it were leaping from the
firmament. The winds he thought were caused by the rari-
ficatiou of the atmosphere^ which was produced by the sun.
Thunder, he said, was produced by the collision of the clouds ;
and lightning by the mbbmg together of the clouds. Earth-
quakes, he said, were produced by ihe return of the air into
die earth. All animals he considered were originally gene-
rated oat of moisture, and heat, and earthy particles : and
subsequently from one another. And males he considered
were derived from those on the right hand, and females from
those on the left

y. They say, also, that he predicted a fall of the stones
which fell near ^gospotami, and which he said would Ml
from the sun: on which account Euripides, who was a
disciple of his, said in his Phaethon that ^e son was a golden
clod of earth. He went once to Olympia wrapped in a
leathern cloak as if it were going to rain ; and it did rain.
And they say that he once replied to a man who asked him
whether the mountains at Lampsacus would ever become sea,
" Yes, if time lasts long enough.'*

VI. Being once asked for what end he had been bom, he
said, " For the contemplation of the sun, and moon, and
heaven." A man once said to him, "You have lost the
Athenians;" " No," said he, *' they have lost me.** When he
beheld the tomb of Mausolus, he said, **A costly tomb is an
image of a petrified estate." And he comforted a man who was
grieving because he was dying in a foreign land, by telling
him, The descent to hell is the same from every place."

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; ANAZAGOSAa

VII, He appears to have been the first person (according
to the accoant ffiveu bj PharorinuB in his Univeraal HistoiyX
ivfao said that uie Poem of Homer was composed in praise of
Tirtae and justice : and Metro, of LampsacuSt who was a
friend of his, adopted this opinion, and advocated it euer*
getica]ly, and Me^odoms was the Bist who seriously studied
die natoial philosophy developed in the writmgs of the great
poet

VIII* Anaxagons was also the first man who ever wrote a
work in prose ; and SiJenus, in the first book of his Histories,
says, that in the archonship of Lysanias a laxge stone feU
fiom heaven ; and that in r^rence to this event Anaxagoras
said, that the whole heaven was composed of stones, and that
by its rapid revolutions they were all held together ; and when
those revolutions get slower, they fall down.

IX, Of his trial there are different accounts given. For
Sotion, in his Successiou of the Philosoj)hers, says, that he was
persecuted for impiety by Cleori, because he said that the sun
was a fier}" hall of iron. And though Pericles, who had been
his pupil, defended him, he was, nevertheless, fined five
talents and banished. But Satyrus, in his Lives, says that it
was Thucydides by whom he was impeached, as Thucydides
was of the opposite party to Pericles ; and that he was pro-
secuted not only for impiety, but also for Medison ; and that
he was condemned to death in his absence. And when news
was brought him of two misfortunes — his condemnation, and
the death of his children ; concerning the condemnation he
said, " Nature has long since condemned both them and me."
But about his children, he said, '* I knew that I had become
the father of mortals." Some, however, attribute tliis saying
to Solon, and others to Xenophon. And Demetrius Phale-
reus, in his treatise on Old Age, says that Anaxagoras buried
them with his own hands. But Hermippus, in his Lives, says
that he was thrown into prison for the purpose of being put to
death : but that Pericles came forward and inquired if anyone
brought any accusation against him respecting his course of
hfe. And as no one alleged anything against him : I then,''
said he, '*am his disciple : do not you then be led away hy
calumnies to put this man to dcatli ; but be guided hy me, and
release him." And he was released. But, as he was indignant
at the insult which had been offered to him, he left the city.

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LIVES OF EMINENT PHILOSOPHERS.

But Hieronymus, in the second book of his Miscellaneous
Commentaries, says that Pericles produced iiim before the
court, tottering and emaciated by disease, so ,that he was
released ratlier out of pity, than by any deliberate decision on
the merits of his case. A?id thus much may be said about his
trial. Some people have fancied that he was very hostile to
Deraocritus, because he did not succeed in getting admission
to him for the purposes of conversation.

X. And at last, liaving gone to Lampsacus, he died in that
city. And it is said, that when tlie governors of the city asked
him what he would Hke to luive done for him, he replied,

That they would allow the children to play evei-y year during
the month in which he died." And this custom is kept up
even now. And when he was dead, the citizens of Lanipsacus
buried him with great honours, and wrote this epitaph on him

Here Anaxagoras lies, who reached of truth
The futhert bounds in heavenly speoulaticmB.

We ourselves also have written an epigram on him :—

Wi.se Anaxagoraa did call the sun
mass of glowiiig iiou ; and for this
eath was to be his fate. But Pericles
Th«D saved his fHend ; but afterwardB he died
A victim of a weak phfloeophy.

XI. There were also three other people of the name of
Anaxagoras ; none of whom combined idl kinds of knowledge ;
But one was an orator and a pupil of Isocratcs ; another was
a statuary, who is mentioned by Antigonus; another is a
grammariaQ, a pupil of Zenodotus.

LIFE OF ARCHELAUS.

I. Abchklaus was a citizen of either Athens or Miletus, and
his &ther*s name was Apollodorus ; but, as some say, My don.
He was a pupil of Anaxagoras, and the master of ScKMrates.

II. He was the first person who imported the study of
natural philo6<^hy from Ionia to Athens, and he was called
the Natural Philosopher, because natural philosophy terminated
with him, as Socrates introduced ethical philosophy. And it
seems probable that Archelaus too meddled in some degree

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with moral philosophy ; for in his phQosopblcal speculations he
discussed laws and what was honourable and just. And Socrates
borrowed from him ; and becaused be enhu^ed his principles,
he was thought to be the inventor of them.

III. He used to sajr that there were two primary causes of
generation, heat and cold ; and that all aninuds were generated
out of mud : and that what are accounted just and disgnaoeful
are not so by nature, hut only by law. And his reasoning
proceeds in this way. He says, that water being melted by
heat, when it is submitted to the action of fire, by which it is
solidified, becomes eartih ; and when it is liquefied, becomes
air. And, therefore, the earth is surrounded by air and infiu-
enced by it, and so is the air by the revolutions of fire. And
he says that animals are generated out of hot earth, which
sends up a thick mud something like milk for their food. So
too he says that it produced men.

And he was the first person who said that sound is produced
by the percussion of the air ; and that the sea is filtered in
the hollows of the earth in its passage, and so is condensed ;
and that the sun is the greatest of the stars, and that the
universe is boundless.

IV. But there were three other people of the name of
Archelaus : one, a geographer, who described tlie countries
traversed by Alexander ; the second, a man who wrote a poem
on objects which have two natures ; and the third, an orator,
who wrote a book containing the precepts of his art.

IA¥E OF SOCRATES.

I. Socrates was the son of Sophroniscus, a statuary, and of
Phaenarete, a midwife ; as Plato records in his Mi»tetus ; he
was a citizen of Athens, of the borough of Alopece.

II. Some people believed that he assisted Euripides in his
poems ; in reference to which idea» Moresimachus speaks as
follows : —

The Phrygians are a new play of Euripides,
But SocrateB haB laid the main foandatioii.*

* ^p^yayOf Biicka or UggaU,

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And again he says

BaripidflB: pc^ednpbySoeniet.

And Gallias, in bis Captives, says :—

A, Are you so proud, giying yourself suck airs I

B, And well I may, for Soontes is the canae.

And Aristophanes says, in his Clouds : —

This la Saripides, who doCh oompoao
Thoae aigameatathria iriae tngediaa.

III. But, having been a pupil of Anaxagoras, as some
people say, but of Damon as the other story goes, related
by Alexander in his Successions, after the condemnation of
Anaxagoras, he became a disciple of Archelaus, the natural
philosopher. And, indeed, Aristoxenus says that he was very
intimate with him.

IV, But Duris says that he was a slave, and employed in
carving stones. And some say that the Graces in the Acropolis
are his work ; and they are clothed figures. And that it is in
reference to this that Timon says, in his Silli : —

IVom thani proceeded the atone poliBher,
^e reasoning legislator, the enchanter
Of all the Greeks, making them subtle arguen^
A cuiming pedant^ a shrewd Attic quibbler.

y. For he was veiy clever in all rhetorical exercises, as
Idomeneus also assures ns. But the thirty tyrants forbade
him to give lessons in the art of speaking and aj^goinff, as
Xenophon tells us. And Aristophanes turns him into ridicule
in his Comedies, as making the worse appear the better reason.
For he was the first man, as Fharorinus says in his Univerral
History, who, in conjunction with his disciple .^Sschines,
taught men how to become orators. And Idomeneus makes
the same asserdon in his essay on Ihe Sociatic Schod. He,
likewiSe» was the first person who conveised about human
life \ and was also the mrst philosopher who was condemned
to dealh and executed. And Aristoxenus, the son of Spn-
tharas, says that he lent money in usury ; and ^t he
collected' the interest and principal together, and then, when
he had got the interest, he lent it out again. And Demetrius,
of Byzantium, says that it was Cnton who made him leave

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SOCfiATES.

Lis workshop and instruct men, out of the admiratioii which
he conceivecl for his abihties.

VI. He then, perceiving that natural philosophy had no
immediate bearing on our interests, began to enter upon
moral speculations, both in bis workshop and in the market-
place. And he said that the objects of his search were—

Whatever good or harm can man befall
In his own house.

And very often, while arguing and discossing points that arose,
he was treated with great violence and beaten, and pulled
about, and laughed at and ridiculed hj the multitude. But
he bore all this with gi eat equanimity. So that once, when
he had been kicked and buffeted about, and had borne it all
patiently, and some one expressed his surprise, he said,
Suppose an ass had kicked me, would you have had me
biiug an action against him ?' And this is the account of
Demetrius.

VII. But he had no need of tntvelling (though most
philosophers did travel), except when he was bound to serve in
the armv. But all the rest of his life he remained in the

same place, and in an argumentative spirit he used to dispute
vdth all wlio would converse with him, not with the purpose
of taking away their opinions from them, so much as of learn-
ing the truth, as far as he could do so, himself. And they
say that Euripides gave him a small work of Heraclitus to
read, and asked him aftenvards what he thought of it, and he
replied, *' What I have understood is good ; and so, I think,
what I have not understood is ; only the book requires a
Belian diver to get at the meaning of it." He paid great
attention also to the training of the body, and was always in
excellent condition himself. Accordingly, he joined iu the
expedition to Amphipolis, and he it was who took up and
saved Xenophon in the battle of Delian, when he had falleii
from his horse ; for when all the Athenians had fled, he
retreated quietly, turning round slowly, and watching to repel
any one who attacked him. He also joined in the expedition
to Potidfpa. which was undertaken by sea ; for it was impossible
to get there by land, as tlie war impeded the communication.
And they say that on this occasion he remained the whole
night in one place ; and that though he had deserved the prize

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66 UYBS OF EMINENT FHIL080FHEB&

of pre-eminent valour, he yielded it to Alcibiades, to whom
Aiistippus, in the fourth book of his treatise on the Luxuxj
of the Ancients, says that he was greatly attached. But Ion,
of Chios, says, that while he was a very yomxg man he left
Athens, and went to Samos with Archelans. And Aiistode
says, that he went to Delphi ; and Pharorinns also, in the
£rst book of his Commentaries, says that he went to the
Isthmus.

YIII. He was a man of great firmness of mind, and very
much attached to the democracy, as was plain from his not
submitting to Critias, when he ordered him to bring Leon
of Salamis, a Yery rich man, before the thirty, for the purpose
of being murdered. And he alone YOted for the acquittal of
the ten generals ;* and when it was in his power to escape out
of prison he would not do it; and he reproved those who
bewailed his &te, and even while in prison, he dehvered those
beautiful discourses which we still possess*

IX. He was a ccmtented and venerable man. And once,
as Famphila says, in the seventh book of her Commen-
taries, when Alcibiades offered him a large piece of ground to
build a house upon, he said, " But if I wanted shoes, and you
had given me a piece of leather to make myself shoes, I should
be laughed at if I took it/' And often, when he beheld the
multitude of tilings which were being sold, he would say to
himself, " How many things are there which I do not want."
And he waa continually repeating these iambics

For aOver plate and purple uF^eful are
For acton on the at^ie^ but not for men.

And he showed his scorn of Archelaus the Maoedoniaa, and

Scopas the Crononian, and Eurylochus of Larissa, when he
refused to accept their money, and to go and visit them. And
he was so regular in his way of living, that it happened more
than once when there was a plague at Athens, that he was the
only person who did not catch it.

X. Aristotle says, that be had two wives. The first was
Xanthippe, by whom he hail a son named Lamprocles ; the
second was Myrto, the daughter of Aristides the Just ; and he
took her without any dowry, and by her he had two sons,
Sophrouiscus and Menexenus. But some say that Myrto was

* After the battle of AigiiiiUB.

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Ids first wife. And some, among whom are SatyroB, and
Hieionymus, of Rhodes, saj that he had them both at the
same time. For they say that the Athenians, on account of
the scarcity of men, passed a yote, with the Tiew of increasiiig
the popnlation, that a man might many one dtisen, and
might also have children by another who should be legitimate ;
on which account Socrates did so.

XI. And he was a man able to look down upon any who
mocked him. And he prided himself upon the simplicity of
his way of life ; aiul never exacted any pay from his pupils.
And he used to say, that the man who ate with the greatest
appetite, had the least need of delicacies ; and that he who
drank with the greatest appetite, was the least inclined to look
fur a draught which is not at hand ; and that those who want
fewest things are nearest to the Gods. And thus much,
indeed, one may learn from the comic poets ; who, witliout
perceiving it, praise him in the very matters for which they
ndicule him. Aristophanes speaks thus : —

Prudent man, who thus with justice long for migbty wisdom,

Happiness will bo your lot in Athens, and all Greece too ;

For you've a noble memory, and plenty of invention,

And patieiice dwells within your mind, and you are never tired.

Whether you're standing still or walking ; and you caie not lur cold,

Kor do you long for break&st time, nor tfer ghre in to hunger ;

But wine and ^uttony you shun, and and all snob kind of f oHim.

And Ameipsios introduces liim on the stage in a cloak, and
speaks thus of him : —

O Socnto8» among few men the best,

And among many vainest ; here at last

You come to us courageously — but where,

Where did you get that cloak ? so strange a garment.

Some leather cutter must have given you

Br way of joke : and yet ibis worthy man,

Thooc^ ne'er ao hungry, never flatters any oneu

Aristophanes too, exposes his contemptuous and arrogant
^position, speaking thus : —

Ton strut along the streets, and look around you proudly,
And barefoot many ilia endure^ and hold your head above us.

And jet, sometimes he adapted himself to the occasion and
dressed himdsomely* As, fat instance, in the banquet ol^
Plato, where he is represented as going to find Agathon.

F 8

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XII. He was a man of great abilily, both in exhorting men
to, and dissuading them from, any course ; as, for instance,
haTing disoouFsed with Theetetus on the subject of knowledge,
he sent him away almost inspired, as Pkto says. And when
Euthyphron had commenced a prosecution against his father
for having killed a foreigner, he conyersed with him on the
sulject of piety, and turned him from his purpose: and by his
exhortations he made Lysis a most moral man. For he was
very ingenious at deriving arguments from existing circum-
stances. And so he mollified his son Lamprodes when he
was veiy angry with his mother, as Xenophon mentions some-
where in his works; and he wrought upon Glauson, the
brother of Plato, who was desirous to meddle with afOsdrs of
state, and induced him to abandon his purpose, because of his
want of experience in such matters, as Xenophon relates.
And, on the contrary, he persuaded Charmidas to devote him-
self to politics, because he was a man very well calculated for
such business. He also inspired Iphicrates, the general, with
courage, by sho^ving him the gamecocks of Midias the barber,
pluming themselves against those of Callias : and Glauernides
said, that the state ought to keep him carefully, as if he were
a pheasant or a peacock. He used also to say, that it was a
strange thing that every one could easily tell what property
he had, but was not able to name all his friends, or even to
tell their number ; so careless were men on tlnit sulijcct.
Once when he saw Euclid exceedingly anxious about some
dialectic arguments, he said to him, ** 0 Euclid, you will
acquire a power of maTiaging sophists, but not of governing
men." For be thought that subtle hair-splitting on those
subjects was quite useless; as Plato also records in the Eu-
thydemus.

XIII. And wlien Charmidas offered him some slaves, with
the view to his making a profit of them, he would not have
them ; and, as some people say, he paid no regard to the
beauty of Alcibiades.

XIV. He used to praise leisure as the most valuable of pos-
sessions, as Xenophon telb us in his Banquet. And it was a
saying of his that there was one only good, namely, knowledge ;
and one only evil, namely ignorance ; that riches and high
birth had nothing estimable in them, but that, on the contrary,
they were wholly evil. Accordingly, when some one told him

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SOCBATBS.

that the mother of x\ntisthenes was a Thracian woman, " Did
you suppose," said he, that so noble a man must be born of
two Atheniaiis ?" And when Phffido was reduced to a state
of slavery, he ordered Crito to ransom him, and taught him,
and made him a philosopher.

XV. Aiul, moreover, he used to leara to play on the lyre
when he had time, saying, that it it was not absurd to learn
anything that one did not know ; and further, he used fre-
quently to (lance, thinking such an exercise good for the
health of the body, as Xenophon relates in his Banquet.

XVI. He used also to say that the dsdmon foretold
the future to him and that to begin well was not
a trifling thing, but yet not far from a trifling thing; and
that he knew nothii^, except the fact of his ignorance.
Another saying of his was, that those who bought things out of
season, at an. extravagant price, expected never to live till the
proper season for them. Once, when he was asked what was
the virtue of a young man, he said, To avoid excess in every,
thing." And he used to say, that it was necessaiy to learn
geometry only so fti^as might enable a man to measure land
for the purposes of buying and selling. And when Euripides,
in his Augur, had spoken thus of virtue : —

'Tis beet to leave theae aubjects undisturbed ; '

he rose up and left the theatre, saying that it was an absurdity
to think it rl^t to seek for a slave if one could not find him,
but to let virtue be altogether disre^^ed. The question was
once put to him by a man whether he would advise him to.
many or not ? And he replied, "Whichever you do,
yoa will repent it.** He often said, that he wondered
at those who made stone statues, when he saw how careful
they were that the stone should be like the man it was
intended to represent, but how careless the^ were of them-
selyes, as to guarding against being like the stone. He
used also to recommend young men to be constantly looking
in the glass, in order that, if th^ handBome, they
rm^t be worthy of their beauty ; and if they were ugly, they

* ** This is not quite correct ^crates believed that the daemon
wbich attended him, limited bii wmdngB to hia own eondnet ; pw
vexkioDg him from doing what waa w^mg, bat not prompting him to
do right"— iSse Qrot^$ adnUnlfU thapttr of» Soeraki. MitL p/ Ortw^
veL V.

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LIVES OF EMINENT PHILOSOPHERS.

might conceal their unsightly appcar;ince by tlieir accomplisli-
ments. He once invited some rich men to dinner, and when
Xanthippe was ashamed of their insufficient appointments, he
said, ** Be of good cheer ; for if our guests are sensible men,
thev ^\'ill bear with us : and if thev are not, we need not care
about them/' He used to say, That other men lived to eat,
but tlijit he ate to live." Another savincr of his was, " That to
have a regard for the worthless multitude, was like the case of a
man who refused to take one piece of money of four drachmas
as if it were bad, and then took a heap of such coins and ad-
mitted them to be good." When ^schines said, '* I am a poor
man, and have nothing else, but I give you myself '* Do you
not," he replied, perceive that you are giving me wfaat is of
the greatest value ?" He said to some one, who was expressing
indignation at being orerlooked when the thirty had seized
on Ihe supreme power, " Do you* then, repent of not being a
tyrant too ?" A man said to him, " The Athenians have con-
demned you to death." ** And nature," he rephed, "has con-
demned them." But some attribute this answer to Anaxagoras.
When his wife said to him, '* You die undeservedly.'* " Would
yod, then,** he rcrjoined, " have had me deserve death ?*' He
thought once that some one appeared to him in a dream, and
said: —

On the third day you'll come to lovely Phthia.

And so he said to ^schines, "In three davs I shall die.*' And
when he was about to drink the hemlock, Apollodorus
presented him witli a handsome robe, that he might expire in
it ; and he said, Why was my own dress good enough to
live in, and not good enough to die in ?** When a person said
to him, ** Such an one speaks ill of you ;** ** To be sure,**
said he, ** for he has never learnt to speak well." When An-
tisthenes turned the nigged side of his cloak to the light, he
said, I see your silly vanity through the holes in your doak.**
When some one said to him, ** Does not that man abuse you ?**
^* No,** said he, " for that does not apply to me/ It was a
saying of his, too, " That it is a good thing fmt a man to offer
himsdf cheerfully to the attacln of the comic writers ; fbr
then, if itej say anything worth hearing, one will be able to
mend ; and if Ihey do not, then all they say is unimportant.**
XYII. He said once to Xanthippe, who first abused him.

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and then threw water at him, " Did I not say that Xanthippe
was thundering now, and would soon rain ?" When Alcibiades
said to him, *' The abusive temper of Xemthippe is intolerable
"But 1" he rejoined, "am used to it, just as I should be if I
were always hearing the noise of a pulley ; and you yoivself
endure to hear geese cackling.'/ To which Alcibiades answered,
** Yes, but they bring me eggs and goslings.'' Well," rejoined
Socrates, and Xanthippe brings me children." Once, she
attacked him in the market-place» and tore his cloak off ; his
friends advised him to keep her off with his hands; " Yes,
by Jove/' said he, that while we are boxing you may all cry
oat, « Well done^ Socrates, well done, Xanthippe.''* And he used
to say, that one ought to live with a restive woman, just as
horsemen manage ▼idrat^tempered horses ; " and as they,'*
said he, " when Siey have once mastered them, are easily able
to manage all others ; so I, after managing Xanthippe, can
easily live with any one else whatever."

XVIIL And it was in consequence of such sayings and
actions as these, that ^ piiestess at Delphi was witness in
bis &vAir, when she gave Otorephon this answer, which is so
amvetsally known

Socrates of all mortals is the wisest.

In consequence of which answer, he incurred great envy ; and

he brought envy also on himself, by convicting men who gave
themselves airs of folly and ignorance, as undoubtedly he did
to Anytus ; and as is shown in Plato's Meno. For he, not
being able to bear Socrates' jestinj^, first of all set Aristophanes
to attack hini, and thou persuaded Melitus to institute a pro-
secution against him, on the ground of impiety and of corrupt-
ing the youth of the city. Accordingly Melitus did institute
tlie prosecution ; and Polyeuctus pronounced the sentence, as
Pharorinus records in his Universal Histor}\ And Polycrates,
the sophist, wrote the speech which was delivered, as Her-
mippus says, not Anytus, as others say. And Lycon, the
demagogue, prepared everything necessary to support the im-
peachment ; but Antisthenes in his Successions of the Phi-
losophers, and Plato in his Apology, say that these men
brought the accusation : — Anytus, and Lycon, and Melitus ;
Anytus, acting against him on behalf of the magistrates, and

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UVSS OF £MXN£NT PHILOSOPHEKS.

because of liis political principles ; Lycon, on behalf of the
orators ; and Melitus on behalf of the poets, all of whom
Socrates used to pull to pieces. But Pharorinus, in tlie iirst
book of his Commentaries, says, that the speech of Polycrates
against Socrates is not the genuine one ; for in it there is
mention made of the walls having been restored by Conon,
which took place sLl yean after the death of Socrates ; and
certainly this is true.

XIX. But the sworn informations, on which the trial pro*
oeeded, were drawn up in this fashioa ; for they are preserved
to this day, says Pharorinus, in the temple of Cybele: — Me-
litus, the son of Melitus, of Pittea, impeaches Socrates, the son
of Sophroniscus, of Alopece : Socrates is guilty, inasmuch as he
does not believe in the Gods whom the city worsh^)s, but in-
troduces other strange deities ; he is also gmlty, inasmuch as he
corrupts the young men, and the punishment he has ineurred
is death.*'

XX. But the philosopher, after Lysias had prepared a de-
fence for him, read it through, and said — ^"'It is a very fine
speech, Lysiaa, but is not suitable for me ; for it was ma&festly
the speech of a lawyer, rather than of a philosopher." And
when Lysias replied, How is it possible, that if it is a good
speech, it should not be suitable to you?** he said, '* Just as
fine clothes and handsome shoes would not be suitable to me.'*
And when the trial was proceeding, Justus, of Tiberias, in his
Gaiiand, says that Plato ascended the tribune and said, " I,
men of Athens, being the youngest of all those who have mounted
the tribune . . . and that he was interrupted by the judges,
who cried out xaralSavruv, that is to say, * Come down/

XXI. So when he had been condemned by two hundred and
eighty-one votes, being six more than were given in his favour,
and wlitu the judges \vere making an estimate of what punish-
ment or fine shoukl be inflicted on him, he said that he ought
to be fined five and twenty drachmas ; but Eubulides says that
he admitted that he deserved a fine of one hundred. And
when tite judges raised an outcry at this proposition, he said,
*' My real opinion is, that as a return for what has been done
by me, 1 deserve a maintenance in the Prytaneum for the rest
of my hfe." So they condemned him to death, by eighty votes
more than they had originally found him guilty. And he was
put into prison, and a few d&ya afterwards he drank the hem*

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lock, having held many admirable conversations in the mean-
time, which Plato has recorded in the Phasdo.

XXIL He also, aoooding to Bome^acooimtB, oomposed a
pean, which begins^

. , '. - Hail Apollo, King of Dcloa^
' ."■^ Hail Diana, Leto's child. .

Bat Diony sidonis says that this psBan is not his. He also oom-
pOsed a ikbley in the s^le of JSsop, not veiy artistically, and
it begins—

^aop one day did this sage counsel give
To the Corinthian magistrates : not to trust
* The C8UM of Tirtoe to the people's judgment.

XXIII. So he died; hat the Athenians immediately
repented* of their action, so that they closed all the palsastre
aud gymnasia ; and they banished his accusers, and condemned
Melitus to death ; but they honomred Socrates with a braasen
statue, which they erected in the place where the sacred vessels
ate kept ; and it was the work of Lysippus. But Anytus had
aheady left Athens ; and the people of Heroclea banished him
fiom that city the day of his arriTal. But Socrates was no't
the only person who met with this treatment at the hands of
the Athenians, but many other men receiyed Uie same : for,
as Henudides says, they fined Homer fifty drachmas as a mad-
man, and they said that lystffius was out df his wits. But they
honoured Astydamas, before ^schylus, with a brazen statue.
And Euripides reproaches them for their conduct in his Pala-
medes^ saying —

Te have slain, ye have slain,

0 Greeks, the all-wise nightingale,

The favourite of the Muses, guiltless all.

And enough has been said on this head.

But PMlochorus says that Euripides died before Socrates ;
and he was bom, as ApoUodorus in his Chronicles asserts, in
the archonsbip of Apsephion, in the fourtih year of the seventy-
seventh Olympiad, on ihe sixth day of the month Thargelion,
when the Athenians purify their atj, and when the citizens
if Delos say that Diana was bom. And he died in the first

* Gfolo ghras good reatons foot diabelMifiiig fhia.

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74 LIVES OF EMINENT PHILOSOFHESa

year of the ninety-fifth Olympiad, being seventy years of age.
And this is the calculation of Demetrius Phalereus, for some
say that he was but sixty years old when he died.

XXIV. Both lio and Euripides were pupils of Anaxagoms ;
and Euripides wiis Itoni in the first year of the seven ty-lifth
Olympiad, in the arclioiiship of CalHades. But Socrates
appears to me to have also discussed occasionally subjects of
natural philosophy, since he very often disputes about prudence
and foresight, as Xenophon teiUa us ; although he at the same
time asserts that all his conversations were about moral phi*
losophy. And Plato, in his Apology, mentions the principles
of Anaxagoras and other natural philosophers, which Socrates
denies ; and he is in reality eiqfiressing his own sentiments
about them, though he attributes them all to Socrates. And
Aristotle tells us that a certain one of the Magi came from.
Syria to Athens, and blamed Socrates for manj parts of his
conduct, and also foretold that he would come to a violent
death. And we ourselTes have written this epigram on him— «

Mak now, 0 Socrates, in Hie realms of JoTe^

For truly did the Qod pronounce you wiae^

And he who said bo is himself all vvi.sdom :
You drank the poison which your country gave,
But they drank wisdom from your godlike voice.

XXV. He had, as Aristotle tells ns in the third book of his
Poetics, a contest with a man of ^the name of Antiolochns of

Lemnos, and with Antipho, an mterpreter of prodigies, as

Pythagoras had with Cylon of Crotona ; and Homer while
alive with Sagaris, and after his death with Xenophanes the
Colophoniau : and Hesiod, too, iu his lifetime with i'ereops,
and after his death with the same Xenophanes ; and Pindar
with Aphimenes of Cos ; and Thales with Pherecydes ; and
Bias with Salamis of Priene ; and Pittacus with Antimenides ;
and Cellseus and Aua&agoras with Sosibrius ; and Simooides
with Timocrea.

XXVI. Of those who succeeded him, and who are called the
Socratic school, the chiefs were l^lato, Xenophon, and Antis-
thenes : and of the ten, as thev are often called, the four most

' ft/ '

eminent were ^schines, Phaedo, Euclides, and Aristippus.
But we must first speak of Xenophon, and after him of Au-
tiBthenes among the Cynics. Then of the Socratic school, and

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ZBNOPHON.

80 aboat Plato, since lie is the chief of the ten sects, and the
&imder of the first Academy. And the xegular series of iJiem
shall proceed in this mamier.

XXVII. There was also another Soeiates, a histomii, who
mote a descriptioii of Argos ; and another, a peripatetic philo-
sopher, a natvre of Bithynia; and another a writer of epi-
gmms ; and another a native of Cos, who wrote inTOcati<ms to
the Gods.

LIFE OF XENOPHON.

I. Xenophon, the sou of Grrllus, a citizen of Athens, was of
the borough of Ere) da ; aud he was a mau of great modesty,
and as liandsome as can be imagined.

II. They say that Socrates met him in a narrow lane, and
put his stick across it, and prevented him from passing by,
a-sking him where all kinds of necessaiy things were sold. And
when he had answered him, he asked him again where men
where made good and virtuous. And as he did dot know, he
said, "Follow me, then, and learn." And from this time
forth, Xenophon became a follower of Socrates.

III. And he was the first person who took down conversa-
tions as they occurred, and published them among men,
calling them memorabilia. He was also the first man who
wrote a history of philosophers.

IV. And Aristippus, in the fourth book of bis treatise on
Ancient Luxury, says that he loved Clinias ; and that he said to
bim, " Now I look upon Clinias with more pleasure tlian upon all
the other beautiful things which are to be seen among men ; and
1 would rather be blind as to all the rest of the world, than as
to Clinias. And I am annojed even with night and with sleep,
because then I do not see him ; but I am very grateful to the
sun and to daylight, because they show Clinas to me/*

V. He became a Mend of Cjnm in this manner He
had an acquaintance, by name Proxenus, a Boeotian by birth,
a pupil of Goi{pas of Leontini, and a friend of Cyrus, H e being
mSardis^stajrmgatthe court of Ojrus, wrote a letter to Athens

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76 LIVBS OF EMINSNT PHIL0S0FHEB8.

to Xenophon, inviting him to come and be afriend of Cyrus. And
Xenophon showed the letter to Socrates, and asked his advice.
And Socrates bade him go to Delphi, and ask counsel of the
God. And Xenophon did so, and went to the God ; but the
question he put was, not whether it was good for him to go to
Cyrus or not, but how he should go ; for which Socrates
blamed him, but stili advised him to go. Accordingly he went
to Cyrus, and became no less dear to him than Proxenus.
And all the circumstances of the expedition and the retreat, he
himself has sufficiently related to us.

YI. But he was at enmity with Menon the Phanalian, who
was the commander of the foreign troops at the time of the
expedition ; and amongst other reproaches, he says that he
was much addicted to the worst kind of debauchery. And he
reproaches a man of the name of ApoUonides with having his
efirs bored.

VII. But after the expedition, and the disasters which took
place in Fontus, and the viohitions of the truce by Seuthea*
the king of the Odrys», he came into Asia to Agesilaus, the
king of Laoed»mon» bringing with him the soldiers of Cyrus,
to serve for pay ; and he became a very great friend of
Agesilaus. And about the same time he was condemned to
bcmishment by the Athenians, on the chaige of being a far
Tourer of the Lacedemonians. And being in Ephesus, and
having a sum of money in gold, he gave half of it to Mega-
byzus, the priest of Diana, to keep for him till his return ; and
if he never returned, then he was to expend it upon a statue,
and dedicate that to the Goddess ; and with the other half he
sent offerings to Delphi. From thence he went with Agesilaus
into Greece, as Agesilaus was summoned to take part in the
war against the Thehans. And the Lacediemonians made him
a Mend of their dty.

VIIL After this he left AgesiUuis and went to Sdllus, which
is a strong place in the district of Elis, at no great distance
from the city. And a woman followed him, whose name was
Philesia, as Demetrius the Magnesian relates ; and his sons,
Gryllus and Diodorus, as Dinarchus states in the action against
Xenophon ;* and they were also called Dioscuri. And when

* The Greek is, Iv ry rrpbc Atvoipwrra dTrotTTarriov — " airoffraaiov
fiKT}, an action against a freedmau for haviog forsaken or slightod hia
«-|Joa7-arijc." — <^ S,

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XEKOPHOK.

Megabyzus came into the coimtiy, on the occasion of some
public assemhlj, he took hack the money and bought a piece of
ground, and consecrated it to the Goddess ; and a river named
Selinus, which is the same name as that of the river at Ephe-
sos, flows through the land. And there he conduued hunting,
and entertaining his Mends, and writing histories. But Di-
narchus sajs that the Lacediemottians gave him a house and
hind. They say also that Philopides, the Spartan , sent him there,
as a present, some slaves, who had been taken prisoners of war,
natives of Dardanus, and that he located tliem as he pleased.
And that the Eleans, having made an expedition against
Scillus, took the place, as tlie Lacedajmonians dawdled in
coming to its assistance.

JX. But then his sons escaped privily to Leprcum, with a
few servants ; and Xenophon himself fled to Elis before the
place fell ; and from thence he went to I.epreiim to his chil-
dren, and from thence he escaped in safety to Corinth, and
settled in that city.

X. In the meantime, as the Athenians had pjissed a vote
to go to the assistance of the Lacedaemonians, he sent his sons
to Athens, to join in the expedition in aid of the JiftcedaB-
monians ; for they hod been educated in Sparta, as Diodes
relates in his Lives of the Philosophers. Diodorus returned
safe back again, without having at all distinguislied himself in
the battle. And he had a son who bore the same name as his
brother Gryllus. But Gryllus, serving in the cavalry, (and
the battle took place at Mantinea,) fought vcrs^ gallantly, and
was slain, as Ephorus tells us, in his twenty-fifth book ;
Cephisodonis hem^ the Captain of the cavalry, and Hegesides
the commander-in-chief. Epaminondas also fell in this
battle. And after tlie battle, they say that Xenophon offered
sacrifice, wearing a crown on his head ; but when the news
of tlie death of his son arrived, he took off the rrown ;
but after that, hearing that he had fjillen gloriously, he put
the crown on again. And some say that he did not even shed
a tear, but said, ** I knew that I was the father of a mortal
man." And Aristotle says, that innumerable writers wrote
panegyrics and epitaphs upon Gryllus, partly out of a wish to
gratify his father. And Ilermippus, in his Treatise du Theo-
phrastus, says that Isocrates also composed a panegyric on
Gryllus. But Timon ridicules him in these woras

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78 LIVBS OF EMINENT PHILOSOPHEBa

A silly couplet, or e'en triplet of speeches,
Or longer series Btill, juHt such as Xenophon
Might write, or Meaj^re^udCschiiiea.

Such, then, was the life of Xenophon.

XL And he flourished about the fourth year of the ninety-
fourth Olympiad ; and he took part in ihe expedition of Cyrus,
in the archouship of Xensenetus, the year hefore the deatli of
Socrates. And he died, jis Stesiclides the Athenian states in
his List of Archons and Conquerors at Olympia, in the first
year of the hundred and fifth Olvniiad, in the archouship of
Callidemides ; in which year, Phili}) the son of Aiiiyiitiis began
to reign over the Macedonians. And he died at Corinth, as
Demetrius the Magnesian says, being of a very advanced age.

XIL And he was a man of great distinction in all points, and
very fond 'of horses and of dogs, and a great tactician, as is
manifest from his writings. And he wiis a pious man, fond of
sacrificing to the Gods, and a great authority as to what was
due to them, and a very ardent admirer and imitator of
bocrates.

XIIL He also wrote near forty books ; though different
critics divide them differently. He wrote an account of the
expedition of Cyrus, to each book of which work he preiixed a
summary, though he gave none of the whole history. He also
wrote the Cyroptedia, and a history of Greece, and Memorabilia
of Socrates, and a treatise called the Banquet, and an essay on
(Economy, and one on Horsemanship, and one on Breaking
Dogs, and one on Managing Horses, and a Defence of Socrates,
and a Treatise on Revenues, and one called Hiero, or the
Tyrant, and one called Agesilaus ; one on the Constitution of
the Athenians and Lacedaemonians, which, however, Demetrius
the Magnesian says is not the work of Xenophon. It is said,
also, that he secretly got possession of the books of Thucydides,
which were previously unknown, and himself published them.

XIV* He was also called the Attic Muse, because of the
sweetness of his diction, in respect of which he and Plato felt a
spuit of rivalry towards one another, as we shall relate further
in oar life of Plato. And we ourBelveB have composed an
epigram on him, which runs thus >

Not only up to Babylon for Cyrus
Did Xenophon go, but now he's mounted up

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JBBOHINBS.

The path which leads to JoTe*8 eternid reahiuh—

For lie, recounting the great deeds of QreeOQ^
Displays his noble genius, and he showa

The depth of wisdom of his master Socrates.

And another which ends thus

O XenophoQ, if th' ungrateful countrymen

Of Ciiinon and Cecropa, banished you,
Jealous of Cyrus' favour which he show'd yoo^.

Still hospitable Corinth, with ghul heart,
Received you, and you lived there happily,
And 80 resolved to stay in that fair city,

XV. But I have found it stated in some places that he
flourished about the eighty-ninth Olympiad, at the same time
as the rest of the disciples of Socrates. And Ister says, that
he was banished by a decree of Eubulus, and that he was
recalled by another decree proposed by the same person.

XVI. But there were seven people of the name of Xenophon-
First of all, this philosopher of ours; secondly, an Athenian,
a brother of Fythostratus, who wrote the poem called the
Tbeseid, and who wrote other works too, especiallj the lives
of Epaminondas and Pelopidas ; the third was a physician of
Cos ; the fourth, a man who wrote a history of Alcihiades ;
the fifth, was a writer who composed a book fuU of fabulous
prodigies; the sixth, a citizen of Paros, a sculptor; the
seventh, a poet of the Old Comedy.

LIFE OF ^SOHINES.

I. ^SCHIN£S was the son of Charinus, the sausage-maker,
but, as some writers say, of Lysanias ; he was a citizen of
Athens, of an industrious disposition from his boyhood upvrards,
on which account he never quitted Socrates.

II. And this induced Socrates to say, the only one who
knows how to pay us proper respect is the son of the ^lusage-
seller. Idomeneus asserts, that it was he who, in the prison,
tried to persuade Socrates to make his escape, and not Crito.
Bat that Plato, as he was rather inclined to favour Aiistippus,
attributed his advice to Onto*

III. And.£schines was calumniated on more than one occa-

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so LIVES OF EMINENT PHILOSOPHERS.

sion ; and especially by Meiiedemus of Eretria, who states that
he appropriated many dialorrues of Socrates as his own, liaving
procured tliem from Xanthippe. And those of them which are
called " headless," are exceedingly slovenly performances,
showing nothing of the energy of Socrates. And Pisistratus,
of Ephesus, used to say, that they were not the work of
^schines. There are seven of them, and most of them are
stated by Persaeus to be the work of Pasiphon, of Eretria, and
to have been inserted bv him amonfij the works of ^Eschines.
And he plagiarised from the Little Cjtus, and the Lesser
Hercules, of Antisthenea, and from the Ahnbiades, and from
the Dialogues of the other philosophers. The Dialogues then
of ^schines, which profess to give an idea of the system of
Socrates are, as I have said, seven in number. First of all,
the Miltiades, which is rather weak; the Callias, the Axio-
chus, the Aspasia, the Aleibiades, the Jelanges, and the Rhino.
And they say that he, being in want, went to Sicily, to Diony-
sius, and was looked down upon by Plato, but, supported by
Aristippus, and that he gave Dionysius some of his dialogues,
and received presents for them.

IV. After that he came to Athens, and there he did not
venture to practise the trade of a sophist, as Plato and Ari-
stippus were in high reputation there. But he gave lectures
for money, and wrote speeches to be delivered in the courts of
law for persons under prosecution. On which account, Timon
said of him, " The speeches of ^schines which do not convince
any one." And they say that when he was in great straights
through poverty, Socrates advised him to borrow of himself,
by deducting some part of his expenditure in his food.

y. And even Anstippus suspected the genuineness of some
of his Dialogues ; accordingly, they say that when he was
reciting some of them at Megara, he ridiculed him, and said
to him, " Oh ! you thief ; where did you get that ?"

VI. And Polycritus, of Menda, in the first book of his
History of Dionysius, says that he lived with the tyrant till
he iras deposed, and till the return of Dion to Syracuse ; and
he says that Oaramis, the tragedian, was abo with him. And
there is extant a letter of .^schines addressed to Dionysius.

VII. But he was a man well versed in rhetorical art, as is
plain from the defence of his £either Phoeax, the general ; and
from the works which he wrote in especial imitation of Goigias,

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ABIBTIFPT78,

of Leontini. And Lysias wrote an oration against 1dm ;

entitling it. On Sycopliancy ; from all wbich circumstances it
is plaiu that he was a skilful orator. And one man is spoken
of as his especial fiieud, Aristotle, who was sumamed The

Table.

VIII. Now Panaetius thinks that the Dialogues of the
following di.sci[)les of the Soc ratio school are all genuine,—
Plato, Xenophon, Antistht-nes, aiui ^llschines ; but he doubts
about those which go under the names of Phaedon, and'
Euclides ; and he utterly repudiates all the utliers.

IX. Ai](l there were eight men of the name of Jl^iSchines.
The first, this philosopher of ours ; the second was a man who
wrote a treatise on Oratorical Art ; the third was the orator
who spoke against Demosthenes ; the fourth was an Arcadian,
a disciple of Isocrates ; the fifth was a citizen of Mitylene,
whom they used to call the Scourge of the Orators ; the sixth
was a Neapolitan, a philosopher of the Academy, a disciple
and favourite of Melanthius, of Rhode ; tlio seven tii was a
Milesian, a political writer ; the eighth was a statuary.

LIFE OF AlilSTIPPUS.

I. ARiSTirrrs was by birth a Cyrenean. but lie came to
Athens, as ^llschines says, having been attracted thither by
the fame of Socrates.

IT. He, having professed himself a Sophist, as Phanias, of
Eresns, the Peripatetic, informs us, was the first of the pupils
of Socmtes who exacted money from his pupils, and who sent
money to his master. And once he sent him twenty drach-
mas, but had them sent back again, as Socrates said that his
daemon would not allow him to accept them ; for, in fact, he
was indignant at haviug them offered to him. And Xenophon
used to hate him ; on which account he wrote his book against
pleasure as an attack upon Aristippns, and assigned the main
argument to Socrates. Theodorus also, in his Treatise on
Sects, has attacked him severelj, and so has Plato in his
book on the Soul, as we have mentioned in another place.

IIL But he was a man very quick at adapting himself to

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iii LIVES OF EMINENT PHILOSOPHEBS.

every kind of place, and time, and person,* and he easily
supported every change of fortune. For wliieh reason he was
in greater favour with Dionysius than any of the others, as he
always made the best of existing circumstances. For be
enjoyed what was before him pleasantly, and he did not toil
to procure himself the enjoyment of what was not present.
On which account Diogenes used to call him the king's dog.
And Timon used to enarl at him as too luxoxioas, speaking
somewhat in this fSashion : —

Like the efFemiuate mind of Aristippus,

WIi€», aa he said, by touch oould judge of falsehood.

They say that he once ordered a partridge to be bought for
him at the price of fifty drachmas ; and when some one blamed
him, •* And would not you," said he, " have bought it if it had
cost an obol ?" And when he said he would, ** Well," replied
Aristippus, fifty drachmas are no more to me.** Dionysius
once bade him select which he pleased of three beautifiil
courtesans ; and he carried off all three, saying that even
Paris did not get any good by prefering one beauty to the
rest. However, they say, that when he had carried them as
far as the vestibule, he dismissed them; so easily inclined
was he to select or to disregard things. On wliich account
Strato, or, as others will have it, Plato, said to him, " You m
die only man to whom it is given to wear both a whole dosk
, and rags/' Once when Dionysius spit at him, he put up with
it; and when some one found fault with him, he said, Men
endure being wetted by the sea in order to catch a tendi,
and shall not I endure to be sprinkled with wine to catch a
sturgeon ?*'

IV. Once Diogenes, who was washing vegetables, ridiculed
him as he passed by, and said, If you had learnt to eat these
vegetables, you would not have been a slave in the palace of a
tyrant" But Aristippus replied, ** And you, if you had known
how to behave among men, would not have been washing
vege tables." Being asked once what advaati^e he had derived
from philosophy, he said, *^The power of associating confidently

• This is exactly the character that Horace gives of him
Omiiis Ari.stippum decuit color status et res;
Teiitanteia maiora» fere prseaeatibua a^quum. —

I 23, 24.

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ABISTIFPOa

vith eveiy body."* When he was reproached for living extra-
vagantly, he replied, ** If eztrayagance had been a fimlt, it
ivonld not have bad a place in the festivals of the Gods.*' At
another time he was asked vrhat advantage philosophers had
over other men ; and he replied, If all the laws should be
abrogated, we should still live in the same manner as we do
now." Once, when Dionysius asked him whj the philosophers
haunt the doors of the rich, but the rich do not frequent
those of the philosophers, he said, Because the first know what
they want, but the second do not"

On one occasion he was reproached by Plato for living in an
expensive %vay ; and he replied, " Does not Dionysius seem to
you to be a good man ?" And as he said that he did ; ** And
yet," said he, " he lives in a more expensive manner tlian 1
do, so that there is no impossibility in a person's living both
expensively and well at the same time."' He was asked ouce
in wliat educated men are superior to uneducated men ; and
answered, " Just as broken horses are superior to those that
are unbroken. " On another occasion he was going into the
liuuse of a courtesan, and when one of the young men who
were with him blushed, he said, *' It is not the gohig into such
a house that is bad, but the not being able to go out.'* Once a
man proposed a riddle to him, and said, " Solve it." ** Why,
you silly fellow," said Arisdppus, ** do you wisli me to loose
what gives us trouble, even while it is in bonds ?" A saying
of his was, " that it was better to be a beggar than an ignorant
person ; for that a beggar only wants money, but an ignorant
person wants humanity.** Once when he was abused, he was
poing away, and as his adversary pursued him and said, *' Why
are you going away ?" Because," said he, " you have a license
for speaking ill ; but 1 have another for declining to hear ill."
When some one said that he always saw the philosophers at
the doors of the rich men, he said, " And the physicians also
are always seen at the doors of their patients ; but still no
one w ould choose for this reason to be an invalid rather than
a physician."

Once it happened, that when he was sailing to Corinth, he
was overtaken by a violent storm ; and when somebody said.

common individuals are not afraid, but you philosophers
we behaving like cowards he said, " Very likely, for we
have not both of us the eame kind of bouIb at stake." Seeing

e 2

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LIVES OF EMINENT PHIL0S0PHEB8.

a man who prided himself on the variety of his learning and
accomplishments, he said, *' Those who eat most, aiid who
take the most exercise, arc not in better health than they who
eat just as much as is good for them : and in the same wa}^ it
is not those who know a great many things, but they who
know what is useful who are valuable men." An orator had
pleaded a cause for him and gained it, and asked him after-
wards, '* Now, what good did you ever get from Socrates?"
•* This good," said he, *' that all that you have said in my
behalf is true.*' He gave admirable advice to his daughter
Aretes, teaching her to despise superfluity. And l)eing asked
by some one in what respect liis son would be better if he
received a careful education, he replied, " If he gets no other
good, at all events, when he is at the theatre, he will not be
one stone sitting upon another." Once when some one brought
his son to introduce to him, he demanded five hundred
drachmas ; and when the father said, Why, for such a price
as that I can buy a slave." •* Buy him then," he replied,
" and you will have a pair."

It was a saying of his that he took mbney from his acquaint-
ances not in order to use it himself, but to make them aware
in what they ought to spend their ni on oy. On one occasion,
being reproached for having employed a hired advocate in a
cause that lie had depending : '* Why not," said he ; " when
I have a dinner, I hire a cook.** Once he was compelled by
Dionysius to repeat some philosophical sentiment; " It is an
absurdity," said he, " for you to learn of me how to speak, aud
yet to teach me when I ought to speak and as Dionysius was
offended at this, he placed him at the lowest end of the table ;
on which Aristippus said, " You wish to make this place more
fespectable." A man was one day boasting of his skill as a
dWer; ''Are you not ashamed," said Aristippus, "to pride
yourself on your performance of the duly of a dolphin ?" On
one occasion he was asked in what respect a wise man is
superior to one who is not wise; and his answer was, '' Send
them both naked among strangers, and you will find out."
A man was boasting of being able to drink a great deal without
being drunk ; and he said, " A mule can do the very same
thing." When a man reproached him for living with a mistress,
he said, Does it make any difference whether one takes a
house in which many others hare lived before one, or one

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ABISnPPUSL 86

where no one has ever lived?** and his reprover said, " No."
" AVell, does it make any difference whether one sails in a ship
in which ten thousand people have sailed before one, or whether
one sails in one in which no one has ever embarked By
no means/' said the other. " Just in the same way/* said he,

it makes no difference whether one lives with a woman with
whom numbers have lived, or with one with whom no one has
lived." When a person once blamed him for taking money from
Ids pupils, after having been himself a pupil of Socrates: To
be sure I do,** he replied, for Socrates too, when some Mends
sent their com and wine* accepted a little, and sent the rest
back; for he had the chief men of the Athenians for bis
purveyors. But I have only Eutychides, whom I have bought
with money." And he used to live wiUi Lais the courtesan,
as Sotton tells us in the Second Book of his Successions.
Accordingly, when some one reproached him on her account,
he made answer, ** I j^ossess her, but I am not possessed by
her ; since the best thmg is to possess pleasures without being
their slave, not to be devoid of pleasures.'* When some one
blamed him for the expense he was at about his food, he said,
'* Would you not have bought those things yourself if they had
cost three obols And when the o&er admitted that he'
would, Then,** said he, " it is not that I am fond of pleasure,
but thftt you are fond of money.** On one occasion, when
Simus, the steward of Dionysius, was showing him a magnificent
house, paved with marble (but Simus was a Phrygian, and a
^a eat toper), he hawked up a quantity of saliva and spit in his
face ; and when Simus was indignant at this, he said, ** I could
not find li more suitable place to spit in."

Chiiroiidas, or a.s some say, PhaBdon, asked him once,
"Who are tho people who use perfumes :^* *• I do," said he,
" wretched man that I am, and the king of the Pei^siaiis is
still more wretched than I ; but, recollect, that as no animal
is the woi'se for having a pleasant scent, so neither is a man ;
but plague take those wretches who abuse our beautiiul
unguents." On another occasion, he was asked how Socrates
died; and he made answer, " As I should wish to die myself.**
When Polyxenus, the Sophist, came to his house and beheld
his women, and the costly preparation that was made for
diimer, and then blamed him for all this luxury, Aristippus
after a while said, ** Can you stay with me to day and when

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86 UYES OF EMIKENT PHILOSOPHERS.

Polyxenus con^rntcd, " Why thra,'* snid hf^. "did you blame
me? it seems that you blame not the hixury, hut the expense
of it." \\ hen his servant was once carrying some money
alonf^ the road, and was oppressed by the weight of it (as
Bion relates in his Dissertations), he said to him, *'Drop what
is beyond your strength, and only carry what you can." Once
he was at sea, and fleeing a pirate vessel at a distance, he
began to count Ids money ; and then he let it drop into the
sea, as if unintentionally, and began to bewail his loss ; but
others say that he said besides, that it was better for the
money to be lost for the laake of AnstippuB, than Aristippos
for the sake of his money. On one occasion, when Dionysitis
asked him why he had oome, he eaid, to give others a share
of what he had, and to receive a share of what he had not ;
bat some report that his answer ivas, ** When I wanted wisdom,
I went to Socrates ; but now that I want money, I have come
to you." He found faolt with men, because when they are
at sales, they examine the articles c^ered yerj carefdUy, but
yet they approye of men's lives without any examinatioD*
Though some attribute this speech to Diogenes. They say
that once at a banquet, Dionynns desired all the guests to
dance in purple garments ; but Plato refused, saying : —

** I could not wear a woman's robe, when I
Was born a man, and «f a manly Taee."

But Ari'^tippus took the garment, and when he was about
to dance, he said very wittily ;— -

^ She who is chaste, will not oorrnpled be
Bj Bacchanalian revels."

He was once asking a favour of Dionysius fi>r a friend, and
when he could not prevail, he fell at his feet ; and when some
one reproched him for such conduct, he said, " It is not I who
am to blame, but Dionysius who Imub his ears in his feet"
When he was staying in Asia, and was taken prisoner hy
Artaphemes the Satrap, some one said to bim, Are you still
cheerful and sanguine ?" " When, you silly fellow," he replied,

can 1 have more reason to be cheerful than now when I am
on the point of conversing with Artaphemes ?" It used to be a
saying of his, that those who had enjoyed the encyclic course
of education, hut who had omitted philosophy, were like the
suitors of. Penelope ; for that they gained over Melantho and.

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Poljdora and the other maid^semnts, and found it easier to
do that than to marrj miatress. And Ariston said in
like manner, that Uljsses when he had gone to the shades
Mow, saw and conversed with nearly all the dead in those
regions, bat could not get a sight of the Queen herself.

On another occasion, Aristippus heing asked what vrere the
Bost necessary things forwell-bom boys to learn, said, " Those
things which tihey will pat in practice when they become men.'*
And when some one reproached him Ibr having come from
Sociates to Dionysius, bis reply was, I went to Soerstes
because I wanted instruction {wMbtg}, and I bsYe come to
IHonjsius because I want diversion (wmdi&g). As be bad
made money bj having pupils, Socrates once said to bim,
*' Where did you get so much?** and be answered, Where
jou got a little.** When bis mistress said to bim, " I am in
the fiunily way by you/* be said, '* You can no more tell that,
ditt you could tell, alter jou had gone through a thicket,
wbicb thorn bad scratched you/* And when some one blamed
him for repudiating bis son, as if be were not really bis, be
ssid, I know tlutt phlegm, and I know that lice, proceed
from us, but still we cast them away as useless.*' One day,
idien be bad received some money from Dionysius, and Plato
had received a book, be said to a man who jeered him, '* The
ftet is, money is what I want, and books what Plato wants.**
When he was asked what it was for which he was reproached
bv Dionysius, ** The same thiug,*' said he, "for which others
leproach me.** One day he asked Dionysius for some money,
who said, ** But you told me that a \vise man \Yould never be
in want " Give me some," Aristippus rejoined, ** and then
we will discuss that point Dionysius gave him some, "Now
then," said he, *' you see that 1 do not want money." When
Dionysius said to him ; —

** For he who docs frequent a tyrant's court,*
Beocnnes his tUmtt, though firee when first he oame

Be took bim np, and replied : —

** That man is but a slave who comes as free."

This stoiy is told hj Diodes, in bis book on the Lives of the

• Plutarch, in his life of Pompey, attributes these lines to Sophodei,
but does not mention the play in which they occurred.

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UV£B OF EMINENT FHILOSOPHEBS.

Philosophers : hut others attribute the rejoinder to Plato. He
once quiirrelled -svith .I'i^chines, and presently afterwards said
to him, " Shall we not make it up of our own accord, and cease
this folly; but will you wait till some blockhead reconciles us
over our cups ? " " With all my heart," said ^schines.
" EecoUect, then," said Aristippus, " that I, who am older
than you, have made the iirst advances.'* And iEschines
answered, '* You say well, by Juno, since you are fax better
than I ; for I began the quarrel, but you begin the friendship.'*
And these are the anecdotes which are told of him.

V. Now there were four people of the name of Aristippus ;
one, the man of whom we are now speaking ; the second, the
man who wrote the history of Arcadia ; the third was one
who, because he had been brought up by his mother, had the
name of /Aitr^obldanog given to him ; and he was the grandson
of the former, being his daughter's son ; the fourth was a phi-
losopher of the New Academy.

VI. There are three books extant, written by the Oyrenaic
philosopher, which are, a history of Africa, and which were sent
by him to Dionysius ; and there is another book containing
twenty-five dialogues, some written in the Attic, and some in
the Doric dialect. And these are the titles of the Dialogues^
Artahazus ; to the Shipwrecked Sailors ; to the Exiles ; toa Beg
gar ; to Lais ; to Forus ; to Lais about her Looking-glass ; Mer-
cury ; the Dream ; to the President of the Feast ; Philomelus ;
to his Domestics ; to those who reproached him for possessing
old wine and mistresses ; to those who reproached him for
spending much money on his eating ; a Letter to Arete his
daughter ; a letter to a man who was training himself for the
Olympic games; abook of Questions; another book of Questions ;
a Dissertation addressed to Dionysius ; an Essay on a Statne ;
an Essay on the daughter of Dionysius; a book addressed
to one who thought mmself neglected ; another to one who
attempted to give him advice. Some say, also^ that he wrote
six books of dissertations ; but others, the chief of whom is
Sosicrates of Rhodes, affirm that he never wrote a single thing.
According to the assertions of Sotion in his second book : and
of Pancetius, on the contrary, he composed the following b .>k.s,
—one concerning Education ; one concerning Virtue : oir c ailed
An Exhoitation ; Artahazus ; the Shipwrecked Men ; the
Exiles: six books of Dissertations ; three books of Apoph-

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iJKIBTEPFU&

thegms ; an essay addressed to Lais ; one to Poms ; one to
Socrates ; one on Fortune. And he used to define the chief
good as a gentle motion tending to sensation.

VII. But since we have written his life, let us now speak
of the Cyrenaics who came after him; some of whom called
themselves Hegesiaci, some Annicerci, others Thoodorei. And
let us also enumerate the disciples of Phcedo, the chief of whom
were the Ihetrians. Now the pupils of Aristippus were his
own daughter Arete, and ^thiops of Ptolemais, and Antipater
of Cyrene. Arete had for her pupil the Aristippus who was
surnamed firir^odidavroit wliose disciple was Theodorus the
atheist, hut who was afterwards called kog. Antipater had
for a pupil Epitimedes of Cyrene, who was the master of Pyne-
bates, who was the master of Hegesias, who was surnamed
TsiatOdvarog (persuading to die), and of Anniceris who ransomed
Plato.

VIII. These men then who continued in the school of Aris-
tippus, and were called Cyrenaics, adopted the following
opinions. — They said that there were two emotions of the
mind, pleasure and pain ; tliat the one, namely pleasure, was a
moderate emotion ; the other, namely pain, a rough one. And
that no one pleasure was different from or more pleasant than
another ; and that pleasure was praised by all animals, but
pain avoided. They said also that pleasure belonged to the
body, and constituted its chief good, as Panetius also tells us
in his book on Sects ; but the pleasure which they call the
chief good, is not that pleasure as a state, which consists in
the absence of all pain, and is a sort of undisturbedness, wliich
is what Epicurus admits as such ; for the Cyrenaics think that
there is a distinction between the chief good and a life of hap-
piness, for that the chief good is a particular pleasure, but that
happiness is a state consisting of a number of particular
pleasures, among which, both those which are past, and those
which are future, aie both enumerated. And they consider
that particular pleasure is desirable for its own sake ; but that
happiness is desirable not for its own sake, but for that of the
particular pleasure. And that the proof that pleasure is the
chief good is that we are from our childhood attracted to it
without any deliberate choice of our own ; and that when we
have obtained it, we do not seek anything fiirther, and also tliat
there is nothing which we avoid so much as we dohs opposite^

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UVES OF EMINENT PHUiOSOPHEBS.

which is pain. And they assert, too, that pleasure is a good,
even if it arises from the most unbecoming causes, as Hif^-
betas tells us in his Treatise on Sects ; for eren if an action be
ever so absurd, still the pleasure which arises out of it is de*
sirable, and a good.

Moreover, the banishment of pain, as it is called by Epicurus,
appears to the Gyrenaics not to be pleasure ; for neither is the -
absence of pleasure pain, for both pleasure and pain ocmsist in
motion ; and neither the absence of pleasure nor the absence-
of pain are motion. In &ct, absence of pain is a condition
like that of a person asleep. They say also that it is possible
that some persons may not desire pleasure, owing to some per-
yersity of mind ; and that all the pleasures and pains of the
mind, do not all origiDate in pleasures and pains of the body,
for that pleasure often aiises from the mere hot of the pros*
perity of one*s country, or from one's own ; but they deny that
pleasure is caused by either the recollection or the anticipation
of good fortune— though Epicurus asserted that it was — for the
m(Hion of the mind is put an end to by time. They say, too,
that pleasure is not caused by simple seeing or hearing. Ac-
cordiugly we listen with pleasure to those who give a repre-
sentation of lamentations ; but we are pained when we see
men lamenting in really. And Ihey ceXLed the absence of
pleasure and of pain intermediate states ; and asserted that
corporeal jpleasures were superior to mental ones, and corpo-
real sufifermgs worse than mental ones. And they argued
that it was on this principle that offenders were punished with
bodily pain ; for they thought that to suffer pain was hard, but
that to be pleased was more in harmony with the nature of
man, on which account also they took more care of the body
than of the mind.

And although pleasure is desirable for its own sake, still
they admit that some of the efficient causes of it are often
troublesome, and as such opposite to pleasure ; so that they
think that an assemblage of all the pleasures which produce
happiness, is the most difficult thing conceivable. But they
admit that every wise man does not live pleasantly, and that
every had man does not live unpleasantly, but that it is only a
general rule admitting of some exceptions. And they think it
sufficient if a person enjoys a happy time in consequence of
pne pleasure which befalls him. They say that prudence is a

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▲BISTlPPdS. 91

good, but 18 not desirable for its own sake, but for the sake

of those things which result from it. That a friend is desirable
for the sake of the use which we can make of hira ; for that the
parts of the body also are loved while they are united to the
body ; and that some of the virtues may exist even in the
foolish. They consider that bodily exercise contrihutes to the
comprehension of virtue ; and that the wise man will feel
neither env}% uor love, nor superstition ; for that these things
originate in a fallacious opinion. They admit, at the same
time, that he is liable to grief and fear, for that these are
natural emotions. They said also that wealth is an eflicient
cause of pleasure, but that it is not desirable for its own sake.
That the sensations are things which can be comprehended ;
but they limited this assertion to the sensations themselves, and
did not extend it to the causes which produce tliem. They left
out all investigation of the subjects of natural philosophy, because
of the evident impossibility of comprehending them ; but they
applied themselves to the study of logic, because of its utility.

Meleager, in the second book of his Treatise on Opinions, and
Clitomachus in the first book of his Essay on Sects says, that
they thought natural philosophy and dialectics useless, for that
the man who had leanit to imderstand the question of good
and evil could speak with propriety, and was free from super-
stition, and escaped the fear of death, without either. They
also taught that there was nothing naturally and intrinsically
just, or honourable, or disgraceful ; but that things were con-
sidered 80 because of law and fashion. The good man will do
nothing out of the way, because of the punishments which are
imposed on, and the diacredit which is attached to, such actions :
and that the good man is a iriae man. They admit, too, that
there is such a thing as improvement in philosophy, and in
other good studies. And they say that one man feels grief more
tlian another ; and that the sensations are not always to be
trusted as faithful guides.

IX. But the philosophers who were called Hegesiaci, adopted
the same chief goods, pleasure and pain ; and they denied
that there was any such thuig as gratitude, or friendship, or
beneficence, because we do not choose any of those things for
their own sake, but on account of the use of which they are,
and on account of these other thing? which cannot subsist with-
put them. But th^ teach that complete happiness cannot

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LIVES OF EMINENT PHILOSOFHEBS.

])ossil)ly exist ; for that the body is full of many sensations, and
that the mind sympathizes with the body, and is troubled when
that is troubled, and also that fortune prevents many things
which we cherished in anticipation ; so that for all these reasons,
perfect happiness eludes our grasp. Moreover, that both life
and death are desirable. They also say that there is nothing
naturally pleasant or unpleasant, but that owing to want, or
rarity, or satiety, some men are pleased and some yezed ; Imd
that wealth and poverty have no influence at all on pleasure, for
that rioh men are not affected by pleasure in a different manner
from poor men. In the same way they say that slavery and
freedpm are things indifferent, if measured by the standard of
pleasure, and nobility and baseness of birth, and glory and
infamy. They add that, for the foolish man it is expedient to
live, but to the wise man it is a matter of indifference ; and
that the wise man will do everything for his own sake ; for that
he will not consider any one else of equal importance with
himself; and he will see that if he were to obtain ever such
great advantages from any one else, they would not be equal
to what he could himself bestow. They excluded the sensa-
tions, inasmuch as they had no certain knowledge about them ;
but they recommended the doing of everything which appeared
consistent with reason.

They asserted also that errors ought to meet with pardon ;
for that a man did not err intentionally, but because he was
influenced by some external circumstance ; and that one ought
not to bate a person who has ened, but only to teach Hm
better. They likewise said that the wise man would not be so
much absorbed in the pursuit of what is good, as in the attempt
to avoid what is bad, considering the cMef good to be living
free fiom all trouble and pain : and that this end was attained
best by those who looked upon the efficient causes of pleasure
as indifferent.

X. The Annicereans,in many respects, agreed with these last ;
butthey admitted the existence in lue of friendship and gcatitude
and respect forone's parents,and the principleof endeavouring to
serve one's oountiy. On which principle, even if the wise man
should meet with some annoyance^ he would be no less happy,
even though he should have but few actual pleasures. They
thought that the happiness of a friend was not to be desired by
us for its own sake ; for that in fBiet such happiness was not

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ARISTIPPUS.

^capable of being felt by the person's neighbour : and that
reason is not sufficient to give one confidence, and to autliorise
one to look down upon the opinions of die multitude ; but that
one must learn a deference for the sentiments of others by cus-
tom, because the opposite bad disposition being bred up with
infirm and early age. They also taught that one ought not to
make friends solely on account of the advantage that we may
derive from them, and not discard them when these hopes or
advantages fail : but that we ought rather to cultivate them on
account of one s natural feelings of benevolence, in compliance
with which we ought also to encounter trouble for their sakes,
so that though they consider j^leasure the chief good, and
the deprivation of it an evil, still they think that a man ought
voluntarily to submit to this deprivation out of his regard for
his fnend,

XT. The Theodereans, as thev are called, derived their
name from the Theodorus who has been akeadj mentioned,
and adopted all his doctrines.

XII. Now Theodorus utterly discarded all previous opinions
about the Gods : and we have met with a book of his which is
entitled, On Gods, w^hich is not to be despised; and it is
from that that they say that Epicurus derived the principal
portions of his sentiments. But Theodorus had been a pupil
of Anniceris, and of Dionysius the Dialectician, as Antisthenes
tells us in his Successions of Philosophers.

XIII. He considered joy and ^ripf as the chief goods :
and that the former resulted from knowledge, and the latter
from ignorance. And he called prudence and justice goods :
the contrary qualities evils, and pleasure and pain something
intermediate. He discarded friendship from his system,
because it could not exist either in foolish men or in wise
men. For that, in the case of the former, friendship

at an end the moment that the advantage to be derived
from it was out of flight. And that wise men were sufficient
for themselves, and so had no need of friends. He used also
to say that it was reasonable for a good man not to expose'
himself to danger for the sake of his oomitry, for that he
ought not to discard his own prudence for the sake of
benefiting those who had none. And he said that a wise
man's country was the World. He allowed that a wise man
might stesl, and commit adnlteiy and sacrilege, at propec

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04 LIVES OF EMINENT PHILQSOFHEBS.

seasons : for that none of these actions were disgraceful bv
nature, if one only put out of sight the common opinion
about them, which owes its existence to the consent of fools.
And he said that the wise man would indulge his passions
openly, without any regard to circumstances : on which
principle he used to ask the following questions : "Is a
woman who is well instructed in literature of use just in pro-
portion to the amoant of her literary knowledge T Yes," said
the person questioned. And is a boy, and is a youth, useful
in proportion to his acquaintance with literature V Yes.*'
" Is not then, also, a beautiful woman useful in proportion as
she is beautiful ; and a boy and a youth useful in proportion
to their beauty ?" " Yes." ** Well, then, a handsome boy
and a handsome youth must be useful exactly in proportion
as they are handsome ?" *' Yes." " Now the use of beauty
is, to be embraced." And when this was granted he pressed
the argument thus : — If then a man embraces a woman just
as it is useful that he should, he does not do wnmg ; nor,
again* will he be doing wrong in employing beauty for the
purposes for which it is useful. And with such questions as
these he appeared to convince his hearers.

XIV. But he appears to hare got the name of from
Stilpo one day asking him, Are you, Theodorus, what you
say you are ?" And when he said he was, ** And you said
that you are (khg,"^ continued his questioner ; he admitted that
also. Then," continued the other, *• you kre Sthg.^* And as
he willingly received the title, the other laughed and said.

But you, wretched man, according to tiiis prindple, you
would also admit that you were a raven, or a hundred o^er
things.'^ One day Theodorus sat down by Euryclides the
hieropbant, and said to him, ** Tell me now, Euryclides, who
are they who behave impiously with respect to the mysteries?"
And when Euryclides answered, Those who divulge them to
the uninitiated ; Then,*' said he, ** you also are impious, for
you divulge them to thosp who are not initiated.''

XV. Ajui indeed he was very near being brought before
llie Areopagus if Demetrius of Phalereus had not saved
him. But Amphicrates in his Essay on Illustrious Men,
says that he was condemned to drink hemlock.

XVI. Wlule he was stapng at Hie court of Ptolemy, the
son of Lagus, he was sent once by him to Lysimachus as au

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ABISTEPPUS.

ambassador. And as he was talking very freely, Lysimaohus
said to him, " Tell me, Theodoras, have not you been banished
fkom Athens?'* And he replied, you have been ri^tly in-
formed ; for the city of the Athenians could not bear me, just
as Semele could not bear Bacchus ; and so we were both cast
out.'* And when Lysimachus said again, *' Take care that you
do not come to me again f I never will," he replied, ** un-
less Ptolemy sends me." And as Mythrss, the steward of
Lysimachus was present, and said, '* You appear to me to be
the only person who ignores both Gods and Sovereigns i*
** How,'* rejoined Theodoras, ** can you say that I ignore the
Gods, when I look upou j oa as their enemy ? ^

XVII. They say also that on one occasion he came to
Corinth, bringing with him a great many disciples ; and that
Metrocles the Cynic, who was washing leeks said so him,
** Tou, who are a Sophist, would not have wanted so many
pupils, if you had washed vegetables.'* And Theodorus, talcing
him up, replied, And if you hi^i known how to associate
with men, you would not have cared about those vegetables.*'
But this rejoinder, as I have said already, is attributed both to
•Diogenes and Aristippus.

XVIII. Such was Theodorus, and such were his circum-
stances and opinions. But at last be went away to Gyrene,
and lived there with Megas, being treated by him wi& the
greatest distinction. And when he was first driven away from
Cyrene, he is reported to have said very pleasantly, " You do
wrong, 0 men of Cyrene, driving me from Africa to Greece."

XIX. 1 kit there were twenty different people of the name
of Theodorus. The first was a Samian, the son of Rhceus ; he
it was who advised the putting of coals under the foundations
of the temple of Diana at Ephesus ; for as the ground was very
swampy, he said that the coals, having got rid of their ligneous
qualities, would retain their soliility in a Aay that could not he
impaired by water. The second wtis a Cyrenean, a geome-
trician, and had Plato for one of his pupils. The third was
the philosopher whom we have been describing. The fourth
was an author who wrote a very remarkable treatise on the
art of exercising the voice. The fifth was a man who wrote a
treatise on Musicial Composers, beginning with Terpauder.
The sixth was a Stoic. The seventh was the historian of
£ome. The eighth was a SyracusaOy who wrote an Esi>ay on

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96 LITES OF SHINSNT PBILOSOPHEBa

Tactics. The ninth was a citizen of Byzantiam, who was «
political orator. The tenth was another orator, who is menr
tioned by Aristotle in his Epitome of the Qratord. The derenth
was a llieban, a statuary. The twelfth was a painter, who is
mentbnMl by Polemo. The thirteenth was also a painter, who
is spoken of by Menodotns. The fourteenth was an Ephesian
a painter, mentioned by Theopbanes in his Essay on Painting.
The fifteenth was an epigrammatic poet. The sixteenth wrote
an essay on Poets. The seventeenth was a physician, a pupil
of Atheneeas. The eighteenth was a Chian, a Stoic philo-
sopher. The nineteenth was a citizen of 2^1iletus, another
Stoic. The twentieth was a tragic poet. ^

LIFE OF PHCEDO.

I. Ph<edo the Elean, one of the Ec^trids, was taken pri-
soner at the time of the subjugation of his country, and was
compelled to submit to the vilest treatment. But while he
was standing in the street, shutting the door^ he met with
Socrates, who desired Alcibiades, or as some say, Crito, to
ransom him. And after that time he studied philosophy as
liecame a free man. But Hieronymus, in bis essay on sus-
pending one*s judgment, calls him a slave.

II. And he wrote dialogues, of which we have genuine
copies ; by name — ^Zopyrus, Simon, and Nidas (but the gen-
uineness of this one is disputed); Medius, which some people
attribute to JSschines, and others to Polysenns ; Antimachus,
or the Elders (this too is a disputed one) ; the Scythian dis*
courses, and these, too, some attribute to .^Ischines.

III. But his successor was Phistamus of Ells ; and the next
in succession to him were Menedemus of Eretria, and Ascle-
piades of Philias, who came over from Stilpo. And down to
the age of these last, they were called the Eliac school ; but
after the time of Menedemus, they were called the Eretrians.
And we will speak of Menedemus liereafler, because he was
the founder of a new sect.

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EUCLIDES.

LIFE OF EUCLIDES.

I. EucLTDSswas anative of Megaia on the Isthmus, or of Gela,
according to some writers, whose statement is mentioned by
Alexander in his Successions. He devoted himself to the
study of the writings of Parmenides ; and his successors were
called the philosophers of the Megaric school; after that they
were called the Contentious school, and still later, the Dialec-
ticians, which name was first given to them by Dionysius the
Carthaginian ; because they carried on their investigations by
question and answer. Hermodorus says that after the death of
Socrates, Plato and the other philosophers came to Euclides,
because they feared the cruelty of the lyrants.

II. He used to teach that tiie chief good is unity ; but that
it is known by several names ; for at one time people call it
prudence; at another time God ; at another time intellect, and
so on. But eveiything which was contrary to good, he dis-
carded, denying its existence. And the proo& which he used
to bring forward to support his arguments, were not those which
proceed on assumptions, but on conclusions. He also ngected
all that sort of reasoning which proceeds on comparison,
saying that it must be founded either on things which are like,
or on things which are unlike. If on things which are like,
then it is better to reason about the things themselves, than
about those which resemble them ; and if on things which are
unlike, then the comparison is quite useless. And on this
account Timon uses Uie following language concerning him,
where he also atta<^ all the other philosophers of the Socratic
school: —

But I do care for none of all these triflers, '
Nor for any one else ; not for your Phftdon,
Whoever he may be ; not for the quarrelsome
Euclides, who bit all the Megareans
With love of fleroe oontentioii.

III. He wrote six dialogues— the Lamprias, the ^dBschines,
the Phcenix, the Onto, the Alcibiades, and the Amatory dia-
loguew

IV. Next in succession to Euclides, came Eubulides of
Miletus, who handed down a great may arguments in dialec-

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UYBS OF £MIN£NT PHILOSOPHEBS.

tics ; such as the Lying one ; the Concealed one ; the Electra ;
the Veiled one ; the Sorites ; the Horned one ; the Bald one.*
And one of the Comic speaks of him in the following
tenns: —

£ubulide8, that most couteutiouH sophist,
Addng his honied quibbles, and preplexing
The native with his false arrogant spcechea^
Has gone with all the flueocy of DemoBthanea.

For it seems that 1 )L'TTiostlienes had been his pupil, and that
being at lirst unable to pronounce the C, he got rid of that
defect. Eubulides had a quarrel with Aristotle, and was con-
stantly attacking him.

V. Among the different pople who succeeded Eubulides,
was Alexinus of Ells, a man very fond of argument, on which
account he was nicknamed 'EXgy^/voc.'f He liad an especial
quarrel with Zono ; and Hermippus relates of him that he went
from Elis to Olym])ia, and studied philosophy there ; and that
when his pupils asked him why he livetl there, he said that he
wished to establish a school which should be called the Olym-
pic school ; but that his pupils being in distress, through want
of means of support, and finding the situation unhealthy for
them, left him ; and that after that Mrxinus lived by himself,
with only one servant. And after that, when swimming in the

* The French tnoudator gives the following ezamplea, to show what

is meant by these several kinds of qiiibLliii!:^ arguments : —

The /y//?.7 one m this : — Ts the man n li;ir who says that he tells lies.
If ho iHf then he does not tell Uos ; and if he does not tell lies, is he a
liar?

The concealed one : — Do you know this man who is concealed ? If
you do not, you do not know your own £ftther ; for he it is who is

concealed.

The veiled one is much the same as the preceding.

The dectra is a quibble of the same kind as the two preceding ones :
Electra sees Orestes : she knows that Orestes is her brother, but does
not know that the man she sees is Orestes ; therefore she does know, and
|oes not know, her brother at the Bame tLme>

The Sorlt*'^ is univer.sally known.

The hold one is a kind of Sorites ; puUiug one hair out of a man's
head will not make him bald, nor two^ nor three^ and so on till every
hair in hLs head is pulled outi

The horned one : — You have what you h*ve not lost You have not
lost horns, therefore you have horns.

t From tXtyxw, to confute.

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EQCLIDES.

Alpheus, he was pricked by a reed, and the injury proved
fatal, and he died. And we have written an epigram ou him
which runs thus ; —

Then the report, alas 1 was true,

• That an unhappy man,

While swimming tore his foot against a n&U ;

For the illustrious aage,
CkK>d Alenniu, awiinming in the AlpheuB, '
Died from a hostile leed.

•

And he wTOte not only against Zeno, but he composed other
works also, especially one a'jainst lilphorus the historian.

VI. One of the school of Eubulides was Euphantus of ( )lyu-
thus, who wrote a history of the events of his own time ; he
also composed several tragedies, for which he got great distinc-
tion at the festivals. And he was the preceptor of Antigonus,
the king to whom he dedicated a treatise on Monarchy, which
had au exceedingly high reputation. Aoid at last he died of old
age.

VII. There are also other pupils of Kubulides, amon^? whom
is Apollouius Cronus, who was the preceptor of Diodorus of
lasos, the son of Aminias : and he too was suniamed Cronus,
and is thus mentioned by Caliimachus in liis epigrams ; —

!Momus himself did cam upon the valh^
Cronus is ivise.

And he was a dialectician, and, as some believe, he was the
first person who invented the Concealed argument, and the
Homed one. When he was staying at the court, of Ptolemy
Soter, he had several dialectic questions put to him by Stilpo ;
and as he was not able to solve them at the moment, he was
reproached by the king with many hard words, and among
other things, he was nicknamed Cronus, out of derision. So
he left the banquet, and wrote an essay on the question of
Stilpo, and then died of despondency. . And we have written
the following epigram on him : —

0 Diodorus Cronus, what sad f&te

Buried you in despair ?
So that you hastened to the shades below.

Perplexed by Sfcilpo's quibbles —
You would dfnorve your name of Cronus* better.

If G and r were gone.

• Kp^vovi tabs away K. p., leaves 6vos, an ass.

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100

UV£S OF EMINEirr PHILOSOPHERS.

VIII. One of the successors of Euclides 'was Icthyas, the
son of Metellus, a man of great eminence, to whom Diogenes
the Cynic addressed a dialogue. And Clinomachus of Therium,
who was the first person who ever wrote a])out axioms and
categorenis, and things of that kind. Anil Stiljio tlio Megarian,
a most illustrious philosopher, whom wo must now sp^ of.

LIFE OF STILPO.

I. Stilpo, a native of Megara in Greece, was a pupil of
some of Euclides' school. But some say that he was a pupil
of Euclides himself. And also of Thrasvmachus, the Corin-
thian, who was a friend of Icthyas, as Heraclides informs us.

II. And he was so much superior to all his fellows in com-
mand of words and in acuteiiess, that it may almost be said
that all Greece hxed its eyes upon him, and joined the
Megaric school. And concerning him Philippus gf Megai'a
speaks thus, word for word : — " For he carried off from Theo-
phrastus, Metrodorus the speculative philosopher, and Tima-
goras of Gela ; and Aristotle tlie Cyrenaic, he robbed of Clitar-
chus and Simias ; and from the dialecticians' school also he won
men over, carrying off Poeoneius from Aristides, and Dippilus
of the Bosphorus from Euphantus, and also Myrmei of the
YeniteSfWho had both come to him to argue against him, but
they became- converts and his disciples." And besides these
men, he attracted to his school Phrasidemus the Peripatetic, a
natural philosopher of great ability ; and Alcimus the rheto-
rician, the most eminent orator in all Greece at that time ; and
he won oyer Grates, and great numbers of others, and among
them Zeno the Ph<Bnician.

IIL And he was very fond of the study of politics. And be
was married. But he lived also with a courtesan, named
Nicarete, as Onetor tells ns somewhere. And he had a licentious
daughter, who was married to a friend of his named Simias, a
citizen of Syracuse. And as she would not live in an orderly
manner, some one told Stilpo that she was a disgrace to him.
But he said, " She is not more a disgrace tome than I am an
honour to her.**

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■

SnLFO. 101

IV. Ptolemy Soter, it is said, received him with gre&t
honour ; and when he had made himself master of Megara, he
gave him money, and invited him to sail with him to Egypt.
But he accepted only a moderate sum of money, and dedhied
the journey proposed to him, but went over to .^gina, until
Ptolemy had sailed. Also when Demetrius, the son of Anti-
gonns had taken Megara, he ordered Stilpo's house to l>e saved,
and took care that everything that had been plundered from
him should be restored to him. But when he wished Stilpo
to give him in a list of all that he had lost, he said that he
had lost nothing of his own ; for that no one had taken from
him his learning, and that he still had his eloquence and his
knowledge. And he conversed with Demetrius on the sul^jeet
of doing good to men with such power, that he became a
zealous hearer of his*

y. They say that he once put such a question as this to a
man, about the Minerva of Phidias Is Minerva the Goddess
the daughter of Jupiter ?** And when the other said, Yes ; *'
•< But &i8,** said he, is not the child of Jupiter, but of
Phidias." And when he agreed that it was so — '* This then,**
he contmued^ is not a God.*' And when he was brought
before the Areopagus for this speech, he did not deny it, but
maintained that he had spoken correctly ; for that she was not
a God (koi) but a Goddess (M) ; for that Gods were of the
male sex only. However the judges of the Areopagus ordered
him to leave the city ; and on this occasion, Theodoras, who
was nicknamed ^e^;, said in derision, Whence did Stilpo learn
this ? and how could he tell whether she was a God or a God-
dess ? " But Theodoras was in truth a most impudent fellow.
But Stilpo was a most wutty and elegant-minded man. Accord-
ingly when Crates asked him if the (lods delighted in adoration
and })raver; they say that he answered, ** Do not ask these
questions, you foolish man, in tlic road, but in private." And
they say too that Bion, when he was asked whether there were
any Gods, answered in the same spirit

** Will you not first, 0 ! miserable old man,

Remove the multitude ?"

VT. But Stilpo was a man of 'simple character, and free
from all trick and humbug, and universally affable.. Accord-

* The quihhle here is, that 9thc is properly only maacoHne^ though
it is BometimeB used as femuiine.

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LIVES OF EMINENT PHILOSOPHERS^

inglj, when Crates the Cynic once refused to answer a question
that he had put to him, and only insulted his questioner —
" I knew," said Stilpo, *' that he would say anytiiing rather
than what he ought. And once he put a question to him, and
offered him a fig at the same time ; so he took the fig and ate
it, on which Crates said, " 0 Hercules, I have lost my fig.'*
•*Not only that," he replied, " but jou have lost your question
too, of which the fig was the pledge.** At another time, he
saw Crates shivering in the winter, and said to him, " Crates,
you seem to me to want a new dress," meaning, both a new
mind and a new garment ; and Crates, feeluig ashamed,
answered him in the following parody

Hiere* Stilpo too, througk the Megariaa botrnds.

Pours out deep groans, where Ssrphon's voice reaoinidfl^

And there he oft doth argue, while a school '
Of eager pupils owns his subtle rule, •
And virtue's name with eager chase pursues."

And it is said that at Athens he attracted all the citizens
to such a degree, that they used to run from their workshops
to look at him ; and when some one said to him, Why, Stilpo, '
they wonder at you as if yon were a wild beast," he replied,

Not so ; but as a real genuine man.*

VII. And he was a very clever arguer ; and Tweeted the
theoiy of species. And he used to say that a person who spoke
of man in general, was speaking of nobody ; for that he was
not speaking of this individual, nor of that one ; for speaking
in general, how can he speak more of this person than of that
person? therefore he is not speaking of this person at all.
Another of his illustrations was, That which is shown to me,
is not a vegetable ; for a vegetable existed ten thousand years
ago, therefore this is not a vegetable." And they say that once
when he was conversing widi Crates, he interrupted the dis-
course to go off and buy some fish ; and as Grates tried to drag
him back, and said, You are leaving the argument ; " Not
at all,** he replied,'* I keep the argument, but I am leaving
you ; for the argument remains, but the fish will be sold to
some one else.*'

VIII. There are nine dialogues of his extant, vrritten in a
frigid style: The Moschus ; the Cnistippus or Gallias ; the

♦ The Greek ia a parody on the description r of Tantnlns nnd Sisyphus.
Horn. Od. iL 581, 5^2, See aldo, Dryden'a Yui-aiou, B. ii. 71i>.

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CMTO. 103

Ptolemy ; the Chcerecrates ; the Metrocles ; the Anaximeiies ;
the Epigenes; the one entitled To my Daughter, and the
Aristotle.

IX. Heraclides affirms that Zeno, the founder of the Stoic
school, had heen one of his pupils.

X. Hermippns says that he died at a great age, after
drinking some wine, in order to die more rapidly. And we
have written this epigram upon him : —

Stranger, old age at first, and then disease,
A hateful pair, did lay wise Stilpo low.
The pride of Megara : lie found good wine
The best of drivers for Ids mournful ooaoh,
And drinkmg it^ he drove on to the end.

And he was ridiculed by Sophibus the comic poet, in his play
called Marriages :—

f ThedregBofStflponiiike the whole dioouzae of this CharinuB.

LIFE OF ORITO.

I. Gbito was an Athenian. He looked npon Snrmtes with
the greatest affection ; and paid such great attention to him,
that he took care that he should never be in want of anything.

II. His sons also were all constant pupils of Socrates, and
their names were Critobulus, Hermogenes, Epigenes, and
Ctesippus.

III. Orito wrote seventeen dialogues, which were all pub-
lished in one volume; and I sulitjoin their titles 'That men
are not made good by Teaching; on Superfluity; what is
Suitable, or tlie Statesman ; on tiie Honourable ; on doing
ill ; on Good Government ; on Law ; on the Divine Being ;
on Arts; on Society; Protagoras, or the Statesman; on
Letters ; on Polititical Science ; on the Honourable ; on
Learning ; on Knowledge; on Science; on what Knowledge is.

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104 LIVES OF EMINENT PHILOSOFUEfid.

LIFE OF SIMON.

I. SncoN was an AUienian, a leather-cutter. He, when-
ever Socrates came into his workshop and conyersed, used to
make memorandums of all his sayings ihat he recollected.

II. And from this circumstance, people have called his
dialogues leathern ones. But he has written thirty-three
which, however, are all comhined in one volume:— On the
Gods ; on the Good ; on the Honourable ; what the Honour-
able is; the first Dialogue on .lustice; the second Dialogue
on Justice ; on Yirtiio, showing that it is not to be taught ; the
hrst Dialogue on Courag«3 ; the second ; the third ; on Laws ;
on the Art of Guiding the People ; on Honour ; on Poetry,
on Good Health ; on Love ; on Philosopliy : on Knowledge ;
on Music ; on Poetry ; ou what the Honourable is ; on Teach-
ing ; on Conversation ; on Judgment ; on the Existent ; on
Number ; on Diligence ; on Activity : on Covetousness ; on
Insolence ; on the Honourable ; Some also add to these dia-
logues ; on taking Counsel ; ou Eeasou or Suitableness ; on
doing Harm.

III. He is, as some people say, the first writer who reduced
the conv ersations of Socrates into the form of dialogues. And
when Pericles offered to provide for him, and invited him to
come to him, he said that he would not sell his freedom of
speech.

IV. There was also another Simon, who wrote a treatise on
Oratorical Art. And another, who was a physician in the
time of Seleucus !Nicanor. And another, who was a statuary.

LIFE OF GLAUCO.

QuLVCo \fBB an Athenian ; and there are nine dialogues
of his extant, which are aU contained in one volume. The
Phidylus ; the Euripides ; the Amyntichias ; the Euthias ;
the Lysitiiidee ; the Aristophanes ; the Cephalus ; the Anazi*
phemus ; the Minexenus. There are thirty-two others which
go under his name, but thej are spurious.

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MENEDEKU8.

105

LIFE OF SIMIAS.

Si^EAs wasa Thebaa ; and there are twenty-three dialogues
of his extant, contained in one single volume. On Wisdom ;
on Eatiocination ; on Music ; on Verses ; on Fortitude ; oa
Philosophy ; on Truth ; on Letters ; on Teaching ; on Art ;
on Government ; on what is Becoming ; on what is Eligible,
and what Proper to be Avoided ; on A Friend ; on Knowledge ;
on tiie Soul ; on Living Well ; on what is Possible ; on
Money; on life ; on what Idie Honourable is; on Industry,
and on Love.

LIFE OF CEBES.

Cedes was a Tlicban, and there are three dialogues of his
extant. The Tablet ; the Seventh, and the Phiyuichus.

LIFE OF MENEDEMUS.

I. This Menedemus was one of those who bebnged to the
school of Phsedo ; and he was one of those who are called
Theoprobid®, being the son of Clisthenes,a o^an of noble familyi
but a poor man and a builder. And some say that he was a
tent-maker, and that Menedemus himself learned both trades.
On which account, when he on one occasion brought forward
a motion for some decree, a man of the name of Alexinius
attacked him, saying lliat a wise man had no need to draw a
tent nor a decree.

II. But when Menedemus was sent by the Eretiiaos to
Megara, as one of the garrison, he deserted the rest, and went
to uie Academy to Plato ; and being charmed by him, he
abandoned the army altogether. And when Asdepiades, the
Phliasian, drew him over to him, he went and lived m Megara,
near Stilpo, and they both be<»uue his disciples. And from
thence they sailed to Elis, where they joined Anchipylus and
Moschus, who belonged to Ph»do*s school. And up to this
time, as I have already mentioned in my account of Ph»do,

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106 LIVES OF EMINSNI FHILOSOPHEBS.

they were called Eleans ; and they were also called Eretrians,
from the native country of Men^emos, of whom I am now

speaking.

III. Now Menedemus appears to have been a very severe
and rigid man, on which account Crates, parodying a description,
speaks of him thus :—

And Asclepiades the ss^e of Phlius,
And the JEh*etrian bull.

And Timon mentions him thus

Rise up, you frowning, bristling, frothy sage.

And he was a man of such excessive rigour of principle,
that when Euiylochus, of Cassandra, had been invited *by
Andgonus, to come to him in company with Geippides, a
youth of Cyzieus, he refused to go, for he was a&aid lest
Menedemus should hear of it ; for he was very severe in his
reproofs, and very free spoken* Accordingly, when a young
man b^ved with boldness towards him, he did not say a
word, but took a bit of stick and drew on the floor an insulting
picture ; until the young man, perceiving the insult that was
meant in the presence of numbere of people, went away. And
when Hierodes, the goyemor of the Firous, attacked him in
the temple of Ampbiaraus, and said a great deal about the
taking of Eretria, he made no other reply beyond asking him
what Antigonus*s object was in treating him as he did.

On anoQier occasion, he said to a profligate man who was
giving himself airs, Do not you know that the cabbage is
not the only plant that has a pleasant juice, but that radishes
have it also?*' And once, hearing a young man talk very
loudly, he said, " See whom you have behind you." When
Antigonus consulted him whether he should go to a certain
revel, he made no answer beyond desiring those who brought
him the message, to tell him that he was the son of a king.
When a stupid fellow once said something at random to him,
he asked him whether he had a farm ; and when he said that
he had, and a large stock of catde, he said, " Go then and
look after them ; lest, if you neglect them, you lose them, and
that elegant rusticity of yours with them.** He was once asked
whether a good man should marry, and his reply was, Do I
seem to you to be a good man, or not and when the other

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XENEDSlCnS.

107

said he did ; Well/' said he, *' and X married." On one
occasion a person said that there were a great many good
things, so he asked him how many ; and whether he thought
that there Tpvere more than a hundred. And as he could not
bear the extravagance of one man. who used frequently to
invite him to dinner, once when he was invited he did not
saj a single vrord, but admonished him of his extravagance in
silence, by eating nothing but olives.

IV. On account then of the great freedom of speech in
which he indutgedf he was very near whDe in Cyprus, at the
court of Nioorreon, being in great danger vrith his friend
ABclepiades. For when the king was celebrating a festival at
the beginning of the month, and had invited them as he did
all the other philosophers ; Menedemus said, ** If the assem-
blage of such men as are met here to-day is good, a festival
like this ought to be celebrated every day : but if it is not
good, even once is too often/* And as ibe tymnt made answer
to this speech, that he kept this festival in order to have
leisure in it to listen to the philosophers,'* he behayed with
even more austeritjr than usual, arguing, even while the feast
was going on, that it was right on every occasion to
listen to philosophers ; and he went on in this way till, if a
flute-player had not interrupted their discusnon, they would
have be^ put to death. In reference to which, w&n they
were oTOrtaken by a storm in a ship, they say that Asclepiades
said, that the fine playing of a flute-player had saved them,
but the freedom of speech of Menedemus had ruined them.

V. But he was, they say, inclined to depart a good deal
from the usual habits and discipline of a school, so that he
never regarded any order, nor were the seats arranged around
properly, but every one listened to him while lecturing, stand-
ing up or sitting down, just as he miglit cliUTice to be at the
moment, jNIenedemus himself setting the example of this
iiTegular conduct.

VI. But in other respects, it is said that he was a nervous
man, and very fond of glory ; so that, as previously he and
Asclepiades had been fellow jounieymen of a builder, wheu
Asclepiades was naked on the roof carrying mortar, Mene-
demus would stand in front of him to screen him when he
saw any one coming.

VII. When he applied himself to politics he was so nervous,

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108 UY£S OF £UINSNT PHIL060Pfi£BS.

that once, wlien setting down the incense, he actually missed
the incense burner. And on one occasion, when Orates was
standing bj him, and reproaching him for meddling with
politics, he ordered some men to put him in prison. Bat he,
even then, continued not the less to watch him as he passed,
and to stand on tiptoe and call him Agamemnon and Hege-
sipolis.

VIII, He was also in some degree superstitious. Accord-
ingly, once, when he was at an inn with iVaclepiades, and had

. unintentionally eaten some meat that had beeu thrown away,
when he was told of it he became sick, and turned pale, until
Asclepiades rebuked him, tellii^^ him that it was not the meat
itself which disturbed 1dm, but only the idea that he had
adopted. But in other respects he was a high minded man,
with notions such as became a gentleman.

IX. As to his habit of body, even when he was an old man
he retained all the firmness and vigour of an athlete, with
firm flesh, and a ruddy complexion, uid vexy stout and fresh
looking. In stature he was of moderate size ; as is plain from
the statue of him wluch is at Eretria, in the Old Stadium.
For he is there represented seated almost naked, undoubtedly
for the purpose of displaying 1^ great<er part of his body.

X He was very hospitable and fond of entertaining his
friends ; and because £retiia was unhealthy, he used to have
a great many parties, particularly of poets and musicians.
And he was very fond of Aratus and Lycophon the tragic
poet, and Antagoras of Bhodes. And above all he applied
Inmself to the study of Homer ; and next to him to Uiat of
the Lyric poets ; then to Sophocles, and also to Achsus, to
whom he assigned the second place as a writer of satiric
dramas, giving ^schylus die fiist. And it is horn Achieus
that he quoted these verses against the politiciaiis of the
opposite party

A Bpeedy numer once was overtaken
By weaker men than he. An eagle too^
I Was beaten by a tortoise in a race.

And these lines ai'e out of the satiric play of Achaeus,
called Omphale ; so that they are mistalveii who say that he
had never read anything but the ^ledea of Euripides, which
is found, they add, in the collection of Neophron, the Sicy-
ouian.

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MENEDEMUS.

109

XI. Of masters of philosophy, he used to despise Plato and
Xenocrates, aijd Paraebates of Cyrene ; and admired no one
but Stilpo. And once, being questioned about him, he said
nothiug more of him than that he was a gentleman.

XT I. Menedemus was not easy to be understood, and in his
conversation he was hard to argue against ; he spoke on every
subject, and had a great deal of invention and readiness. But
he was very disputatious, as Antisthenes says in his Succes-
sions ; and he used to put questions of this sort, •* Is one thing
different from another thing ?" " Yes/' " And is benefiting a
person something different from the good ?" " Yes." " Then the
good is not benefiting a person. ' And he, as it is said, discarded
all negative axioms, using none but affirmative ones ; and of
these he only approved of the simple ones, and rejected all
that were not simple ; saying that they were intricate and
perplexing. But Heraclides says that in his doctrines ho was a
thorough disciple of Plato, and that he scorned dialectics ; so that
once when Alexinus asked him whether he had left off beating
his father, he said, '* I have not beaten him, and I have not
left off;" and when he said further that he ought to put an
end to the doubt by answering exphcitly yes or no, " It would
be absurd," he rejoined, " to comply with your conditions,
when I can stop you at the entrance.**

When Bion was attacking the sootlisayers with great
perseverance, he said tliat he was killing the dead over again.
And once, when he heard some one assert tliat the greatest
good was to succeed in everything that one desires ; he said,
•* It is a much greater good to desire what is proper." But
Antigonus of Carystus, tells us that he never wrote or com-
posed any work, and never maintained any principle tenaciously.
But in cross-questioning he was so contentious as to get quite
black in the face before he went away. But though he was
so yiolent in his discourse, he was wonderfully gentle in his
acdons. Accordingly, though he used to mock and ridicule
Alexinus veiy severely, still he conferred great benefits on
him, conducting his wife from Delphi to Chalcis for him, as
she was alaimed about the danger of robbeis and banditti in
the road.

XIII. And he was a very warm friend, as is plain from
bis attachment to Asclepiades ; which was hardly inferior to
the friendship of Pylades and Orestes. But Asdepiades was

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LIVES OF E3CINSNT FHILOSOPHEBS.

the elder of the two, so that it was said that he was the poet,
and Menedemus the actor. And they say that on one occasion,
Archipolis bequeathed them three thousand pieces of money
between them, they had such a vif^orous contest as to which
should take tlie smaller sbara* that neither of them would
receive any of it

XIV. It is said that they were both married ; and that
Asclepiades was married to the mother, and Menedemus to
the daughter ; and when Asclepiades 's wife died, he took the
wife of Menedemus; and Menedemus, when he became the
chief man of the state, married another who was rich ; and as they
still maintained one house in common, Menedemus entrusted
the whole management of it to his former wife. Asclepiades
died first at £retria, being of a' great age ; having lived with
Menedemus with great economy, ihoi^ they had ample
means. So that, wlien on one occasion, after the death of
Asclepiades, a friend of his came to a banquet, and when the
slaves refused him admittance, Menedemus ordered them to
admit him» saying that Asclepiades opened the door for him,
even now, that he was under the earth. And the men who
chiefly supported them were Hyporicus the Macedonian, and
Agetor the Lamian. And Agetor gave each of them thirty
minsB, and Hipporicus gave Menedemus two thousand drachmas
to portion his daughters with ; and he had three, as Heradides
tells us, the children of his wife, who was a native of Oropus.

XV. And he used to give banquets in this feshion : ^First
of all, he woidd sit at dinner, with two or three j&iendsy till
kte in the day ; and then he would invite in any one who came
to see him, even if they had already dined ; and if any one
came too soon, they would walk up and down, and ask
those who came out of the bouse what there was on the table,
and what o*clock it was; and then, if there were only
vegetables or salt flsh, they would depart; but if they heard
it was meat, they would go in. And during the summer,
mats of rushes were laid upon the couches, and in winter soft
cushions ; and each guest was expected to bring a pillow for him-
self. And the cup tibat was carried round did not hold more than
a ootyla. And the second course oonsisted of lupins or beans/
and sometimes firidts, such as pears, pomegranates, pulse,
and sometimes, by Jove, dried figs. And aQ these circum-
stances are detailed by Ljcophron, in bis saiiiic dramas, whidi

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KENEDEMUB. 11]

he inscribed with the name of Menedemus,4naking his play a
panegyric on the philosopher. And the folloinng are some of
the Unes: —

After a temperate feast, a small-sized cup
Is handed round with moderation due ;
And conversation wiae makes the dessert

XVI. At first, now, be "sva^, not tliouglit much of, being
called cymo and triiler by the Eretnanb ; but subsequenlly, he
wa^ so much admired by liis countrymen, that they entrusted
him witli the chief goveniment of the state. And he >vas sent
on embassies to Ptolemy and l^ysimachus, and was gi'eatly
honoured everywhere. He was sent as envoy to Demetrius ;
and, as the city used to pay him two hundred talents a year, he
persuaded him to remit fifty. And having been falsely accused
to him, as having betrayed the city to Ptolemy, he defended
himself from the charge, in a letter which begins thus : —

** Menedemus to king Demetrius. — Health. I hear that
information has been laid before you concerning us." . .
And the tradition is, that a man of tlie name of ^I^schylns,
who was one of the opposite party in the state, was in the habit
of making these false charges. It is well known too that he
was sent on a most important embassy to Demetrius, on the
subject of Oropus, as Euphantus relates in his History.

XVII. Antigonus Wits greatly attached to him, and professed
himself his pupil ; and when he defeated the barbarians, near
Lysimachia, Menedemus drew up a decree for him, in simple
terms, free from all flattery, which begins thus : —

" The generals and councillors have determined, since king
Antigonus has defeated tlie barbarians in battle, and has re-
turned to his own kingdom, and since he has succeeded in idl
his measures according to his wishes, it has seemed good to the
council and to the people." . . And from these circum-
stances, and because of his friendship for him, as shown in
other matters, he was suspected of betrayinj^ the city to liini :
and being impeached by Aristodemus, he left the city, and re-
turned to Oropus, and there took up his abode in the teuiple
of Amphiaraus ; and as some gulden goblets which were there
were lost, he w^iis ordered to depart by a general vote of the
Boeotians. Leaving Oropus, and being in a state of great
despondency, he entered his country secretly ; and taking mth

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112 UVES OF EMINENT PHILOSOPHEKS.

him his wife and daut?hters, he went to the court of Antigonus,
and there died of a brukeu heart.

But Heraclides gives an entirely different account of him ;
saying, that while he was the chief councillor of the Eretrians,
he more than once preserved the liberties of the city from those
who would have brought in Demetrius the tyrant ; so that he
never could have betrayeil the city to Antigonus, and the
accusation must have been false ; and tliat he went to the
court of Antigonus, and endeavoured to effect the deliverance
of his country ; and as he could make no impression on him,
he fell into despondency, and starved himself for seven days,
and 80 he died. And Antigonus of Carystus gives a similar
account : and Persaeus was the only man with whom he had
an implacable quarrel ; for he thought that when Antigonus
himself was willing to re-establish the democracy among the
Eretrians for his sake, Persaeus prevented him. And on this
account Menedemus once attacked him at a banquet, saying
many other things, and among them, He may, indeed, ])c a
philosopher, but he is the worst man that lives or that ever
will live."

XVIII. And he died, acconlinpf to Heraclides, at the age
of seventy-four. And we have writteu the ibllowing epigram
on him : —

Fve beard your fkte, 0 HenedemuB, tliai of your own uomd,

You starved yourself for seven days and died ; I'
Acting like an Eretrian, but not muck like a man.
For Bpiritleea despair appears your guide.

These men then were the disciples of Socrates, and their
successors ; but we must now proceed to Plato, who founded
the Academy ; and to his successors, or at least to all those of
them who enjoyed any reputation.

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LIFE OF PLATO.

I. Plato was the son of Ariston and Perictione pt Petone,

and a citizen of Athens ; and his mother traced her family back
to Solon ; for Solon had a brother named Diopidas, vAio had
a son named Critias, who was the father of CaJlceschrus, who

was the father of that Critias who was one of the thirty tvrants,
and also of Glaucon, who was the father cf Charniides and
Perictione. And she became the mother of Plato l)y her
husband Ariston, Plato being the sixth in descent from Solon.
And Solon traced his pedigree up to Neleus and Neptune.
They say too that on the father s side, he was descended from
Codrus, the son of Melanthus, and they too are said by Thra-
sylus to derive their origin from Neptune. And Speusippus,
in his book which is entitled the Funeral Banquet of Plato,
and Clearehus in his Panegyric on Plato, and Anaxilides in
the second book of his History of Philosophei's, sav that the
report at Athens was that Perictione was very beautiful, and
that Ariston endeavoured to violate her and did not succeed ;
and that he, after he had desisted from his violence saw a
vision of Apollo in a dream, in consequence of which he ab-
stained from approaching his wife till after her confinement.

II. And Plato was born, as ApoUodorus savs in his
Chronicles, in the eighty-eighth Olympiad, on the seventh day
of the month Thai-gelion, on which day the people of Delos
say that Apollo also was born. And he diecl, as Hermippns
says, at a marriage feast, in the first year of the hundred and
eighth Olympiad, having lived eighty-one years. But Ne-
anthes says that he was eighty-four years of age at his death.
He is then younger than Isocrates by six years ; for Isocrates
was born in the archonship of Lysimachus, and Plato in that
of Aminias, in which year Pericles died.

III. And he was of the borough of Colytus, as Antileon
tells us in his second book on Dates. And he was bom, ao-
oording to some writers, in ^gina, in the house of Phidiades

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JU UYBB OF EltlNENT rHUOBOPHSIUS.

the son of Thales, as Pharormus affirms in his Univeisal
Histoxy, as his father had been sent thither with seveial others
as a settler, and returned again to Athens when the settlers
were diiven out by the Lacedsemonians, who came to the as-
sistance of the ^ginetans. And he served the office of
choregus at Athens, when Dion was at the expense of the
spectacle exhibited, as Theodoras relates in the eighth book
of his PhOosophical Conservations.

IV. And he had brothers, whose names were Adimantus and
Glaucon, and a sister called Petone, who was the mother of
Spensippus.

y. And he was taught learning in the school of Dionysius,
whom he mentions in his Rival Lovers. And he learnt gym-
nastic exercises under the wrestler Ariston of Argos. And it
was by him that he had the name of Plato ^ven to him in-
stead of his original name, on account of his robust figuie,
as he had previously been called Aiistodes, after the name of
his grand&ther, as Alttunder informs us in his Successions.
But some say that he derived this name from the breaddi
(nT^ttrOrfig) of his eloquence, or else because he was veiy wide
(vKarvs) across the forehead, as Neanthes affirms There are
some also, among whom is Dicsearchus in the first volmne
on Lives, who say that he wrestled at the Isthmian games.

VL It is also said that he applied himself to the study of
painting, and that he wrote poems, dithyrambics at first, and'
afterwards lyric poems and tra^redies.

VII. ]3iit lie liad a veiy weak voice, they say ; and the same
fact is stated by Timotheus tlie Athenian, in his book on
Lives. And it is said tliat Socrates in a dream saw a cygnet
on his knees, who immediately |)ut Ibrth feathers, and flew up
on high, uttering a sweet note, and that the next day Plato
came to him, and that he pronounced him the biid which he
had seen.

VIII. And lie used to philosophize at fii*st in the Academy,
and afterwards in the garden near Colon us, as Alexander tells
us in his Successions, quoting tlie testimony of Heraclitus ; and
subsequently, though he was about to contend for the prize in
tragedy in the theatre of iiaccbus, after he had heard the dis-
course of Socrates, he learnt his poems, saying : —

YxUmOf oome here; for Plato wuiii your aid.

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PLATO.

115

And from henceforth, as they saj, being now twenty yean old,
he became a papil of Socrates. And when be was gone, he
attached himself to Gratylus, the disciple of Hemditus, and
to Hemiogenes, who had adopted the principles of Fannenidea.
Afterwards, when he was eight and twenty years of age, as
Hermodoros tells us, he withdrew to Megara to Euclid^ with
certain othm of the pupils of Socrates ; and sabseqnendy, he
went to Cyrene to Theodonis the mathematician; and from
thence he proceeded to Italy to the il^thagoieans, PMlolans
and Eniytus, and from thence he went to Eoiytua to the
priests there ; and having fiillen side at that place, he was
cured by the priests by the application of sea water, in re-
ference to which he said :-—

.The sea dotb. waali away all luimaa eviki

And he said too, that, according to Homer, all the l^Qrptians
were physicians. Plato had also formed the idea of nuddug
the acquaintance of the Magi ; but he abandoned it on account
(tf the wars in Asia.

IX. And when he returned to Athens, he settled in the
Academy, and that is a suburban place of exercise planted like
a grove, eo named from an ancient hero named Hecademus, as
Eupolis tells «s in his Dischaiged Soldiers.

In the well-shaded walks, protected well
By Godlike Academus.

And Timou, with reference to Plato, says

A man did lend thm oa, a strong atomt man^

A honeyed speaker, aweet as melody

Of tuneful grasshopper, who, seated high
On Hecademus' treei, unwearied siiigs«

- ■ *

For the word academy was formerly spelt with E. Now our
philosopher was a friend of lacerates ; and Pra^dphanes com.
posed an account of a oonyersation winch took place between
them, on the subject of poets, when Isocrates was staying with
Plato in the coimtry.

X. And Aristoxenus says that he was three times engaged
in military expeditions; once against Tanagra; the second
time against Corinth, and the third time at Delium ; and that
in the battle of Delium he obtained the prize of pre-eminent
valour. He combined the principles of the schools of Heia-

I 2

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116

UYEB OF SminSNT PHILOflOPHSBS.

ditoB, and Pythagoras and Socrates ; for he used to philosophize
on tliose tldngs which are the subjects of sensation, accord-
ing to the sjstem of Heiaditua; on those with which intellect
is oonvenant, according to that of Pythagoras ; and on politics,
according to that of Socrates.

XI, And some people, (of whom Satyrus is one,) say that
he sent a oommission to Sicily to Dion, to buy him three books
of Pythagoras firom Philokms for a hundred minse ; for they
say that he was in yeiy easy dreumstances, having received
iiom Dionysias more tlumeigjbty talents, as Onetor also asserts
in his treadse which is entitled. Whether a wise Man ought to
acquire Gains.

XII. And he was much assisted by Epicharmus the comic
poet, a great part of whose works he transcribed, as Aldnus
says in his essays addressed to Amyntas, of which there are
four. And in tiie first of them he speaks as follows And
Plato appears to utter a great many of the sentiments of Epi-
charmus* Let us just examine. Plato says that that is an
object of sensation, whidi is never stationaiy either as to its
quality or its quantity, but whidi is always flowing and
changing ; as, for instance, if one take from any objects all
number, then one cannot affirm that they are either equal,
or of any particular things, or of what quality or quantity they
are. Ajcid these things are of such a kind that they are alwa3m
being produced, but that they never have any invariable sub-
stances.**

But that is a subiect for intellect from which nothing is
taken, and to which notliiug is added. And tbia is the nature
of things eternal, which is always similar and the same. And,
indeed, Epicharmus speaks intelligibly on the subject of what
ia perceived by the senses and by the intellect :—

A, But the gre«l Gods were always present, nor
Did they at any moment oeaee to be ;

And their peculiar likenen at all times
Do theyfretain, by the same prindplee.

B. Yet chaos is asserted to have been^
Tiio iirst existent Deity.

Am How Ota llukt bef

For 'tis impossible that we ehould find
Any first principle arise from anything; '

B. Is there then no first principle at all ?

A, Nor second either in the things we speak of;

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PLATO

117

But tinu it is— if to aa ev«n nmiiber,.

Or e^en an odd one, if you so prefer
You add a unit, or if you deduct one,
Say will the number still lemaiii the Bame 2
£, Certainly not

' A, ' So, if you take a measure

A eubit long, and add aootber oabit^
Or cut a portion off, the meaBure tiiea
Ko longer is the same ?

JB. Of course it is not,

A, Now turn your eyes and thoughts upon mankind —
We see one grows, another perishes :
So that thsy all exist perpetoaUy
In a condition of transition. That
Whose nature changes must be different
• At each successive moment, from the thing
It was before. So also, you and I
Are diffisrent people now from what we were
But yesterday ; and then, again, to-morrow
We shall be different from what we're now ;
So that^ by tlie same rule, we're always different.

And Alcinus speaks as follows : — '* The wise meu say
that the soul perceives some things by means of the body, as
for instance, when it hears and sees ; but that it also per-
ceives something by its own power, without avaiUng itself at
all of the assistance of the body. On which account existent
things are divisible into objects of sensation and objects of
understanding. On account of which Plato used to say, that
those who ivished to become acquainted with the principles of
everything, ought first of all to divide the ideas as he calls .
them, separately, such as similarity, and unity, and multitude,
and magnitude, and stationariness, and motion. And secondly,
that they ought to form a notion of the honourable and the
gpod, and the just, and things of that sort, by themselves,
apart from other considerations. And thirdly, that they
ought to ascertain the character of such ideas as are relative
to one another, such as knowledge, or magnitude, or au-
thority ; considering that the things which come under our
notice from partaking of their nature, have the same names
that they have. I mean that one calls that just which
partakes of the just ; and that beautiful which partakes of
the beaatiihl. And each d ihese primary species is eternal,
and is to be understood by the intellect, and is not subject to
the influence of external circumstances. On which account

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118

LIVES or EMINENT PHILOSOPHERS.

he says, that ideas exist in nature as models ; and that all
other things are like them, and, as it "svere, copies of them.
Accordingly Epicharmus speaks thus about the good» and
about the ideas.

A, Tell me, is flute-plajn^g now a thing at all I
£, Of courae it is.

A. 1b man then flute-playing ?

No, notbiBgf of tho Mrk.

A. Wdl, let UB see —

What is a flute-player ? what think yoa HOW
Of him — is he a man, or is ha not I

B. Of course he is a man.

A. Think yon not then

The OMO k jtuit liie same about the good.
That the good U Bomething by itself, intrinsifi^
And he who's learnt, does at once become
Himself a good man ? jiint an he who's learnt
flute-playing ib a flute-player ; or dancing,
A daaiser ; wearing* a wearer. And In shorty ]
Whoever learns an art, does not become
The art itself but just an artist in it

Plato, in his theory of Ideas, says, ** That since there is
such a thing as memory, the ideas axe in existent things,
because memory is only conversant about what is stable and
enduring ; and that no other thing is durable except ideas, for in
what way," he continues, '* could animals be preserved, if they
had no ideas to guide them, and if, in addition to them, they
had not an intellect given to tlicrn by nature ?" But as it is
they recollect similitudes, and also their food, so as to know
what kind of food is fit for them : which they \ram because
the notion of similarity is implanted naturally in every
animal ; owing to which notion they recognize those of the
same species as themselves. What is it then that Epicharmus
says?

Eumseus* wisdom ? — not a Rcanty gift
Appropriated to one single being ;
But every animal that breathes and lives,
Hm mind and lateDeek— So if you wffi
Survey the fiwfte atteatively, youll find.
E'en in the common poultry yard, the hen
Brings not her offspring forth at first alive,
But sita upon her eggs, and by her warmth,
Cheriflhee them into life. And all this wisdom
She doei derive fiom nature's gift alone,
For nature is her only guide and teacher.

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PLATO.

119

And in a subse(][uent passage he sajs : —

There is no wonder In my tiwfcfflifng this.

That citizens please citizens, and aeem
To one another to be beautiful :
For so one dog seems to another dog
The fairest object in the world ; and so
One ox aeeniB to another, ass to tM,
And Bwme to BwinOi

And these and similar speculations are examined and com-
pared by Alciuus through four books, where he shows how
much assistance Plato has derived from l^picharmus. And
that Epicharmus himself was not indisposed to appreciate his
own wisdom, one may learn from these lines, in which he
predicts that there will arise some one to imitate him : —

But as I thinly I surely foresee iStoB,

That tlie.-^e my words will be preserved* hotwitm

In many people's recollection. And

Another man wiU come, who'll strip my reasons

Of their poetic dress, and, clothing them

In other gannents and with purple broideiy

Will show them off ; and being invincible^

Will make all liyaU bow the knee to him.

XIII. Plato also appears to have brought the books of
Sophron, the farce-writer, to . Athens, which were previously
neglected ; and to have availed himself of them in his
Speculations on Morals : and a copy of them was found
under his head.

XIV . And Plato made three voyages to Sicily, first of
all for the purpose of seeing the island and the craters of
volcanoes, when Dionysius, tlie son of Hermocrates, being the
tyrant of Sicily, pressed him earnestly to come and sec him ;
and he, conversing about tyranny, and saying that that is not
the best government which is advantageous for one individual
alone, unless that individual is pre-eminent in virtue, had a
quarrel with Dionysius, who got angiy, and said, " Your
words are those of an old dotard/' And Plato replied,

• The Greek is tov pimoyp&^o%K " A mime was a kind of prose
drama, intended as a fanuliar representation of life and character,
^thoot any distinet plot It WM divided into /ii/icei lii^pctdc and
yvwuK&»f alio into lit/io* ^irev^aiW and YfXocMV."— A 8, immc

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120 LIYSB 01* EMINENT PHILOSOPHERS.

** And your language is that of a tyrant." And on this the
tyrant became very indignant, and at first was inclined to put
him to death ; but afterwards, being appeased by Deni and
Aristimenes, he forebore to do that, but gave him to Pollis,
the Laccdiemonian, who happened to have come to liim on
an embassy just at that time, to sell as a slave. And he
took him to ^Egina and sold him ; and Charmander, the son
of Charmandrides, instituted a capital prosecutiou against
him, in accordance with the law which was in force, in the
island of iEgina, that the first Athenian who landed on the
island should be put to death without a trial ; and he himself
ma the person who had originally proposed that law, as
Phaiorinus says, in his Universal History. But when some
one said, though he said it only in joke, that it was a phi-
losopher who had landed, the people released him. But some
say that he was brought into the assembly and watched ; and
that he did not say a word, but stood prepared to submit to
whatever might befall him ; and that they determined not to
put him to death, but to sell him after the fashion of
prisoners of war. And it happened by chance that Anniceris,
the Gyrenean, was present, who ransomed him for twenty
mine, or^ as others say, for thirty, and sent him to Athens,
to his companions, and they immediately sent Anniceris his
money : but he refused to receive it, saying that they were
not the only people in the world who were entitled to have a
regard for Plato. Some writers again say, that it was Deni
who sent the money, and that he did not refuse it, but l)oiight
him the garden in the Academy. And with respect to PoUis
it is said that he was defeated by Ghabrias, and that he was
afterwards drowned in Helia* in consequence of the anger of
the deity at bis treatment of this philosopher. And this is the.
story told by Phaiorinus in the first book of his Gommentaries.
Dionysius, howeyer, did not remain quiet ; but when he had
heard what had happened he wrote to Plato not to speak ill of
him, and he wrote bock in reply that he had not leisure
enough to think at all of Dionysius.

XV. But he went a second time to Sicily to the younger
Dionysius, and asked him for some land and for some mm
whom he might make live according to lus own theory of
a constitution. And Dionysius promued to give him some,
but never did it And some say that he was in danger

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PLATO. ld(

bimselft having been suspected of exciting Dion and Thetas
to attempt the deliTcrance of the island ; but that Archytas,
the Pythagorean, wrote a letter to Dionysius, and begged
FUto off. and sent him back safe to Athens. And the letter
is as Mhms

ABOHTTAS 10 DIOHTBIUS, OSBETINa. '

•

** AH of us who are the iiiends of Plato, have sent to yon
Lamiscus and Photidas, to claim of you this philosopher in
accordance with the agreement which you made with us.
And it is right that you should reooUect the eagerness which
you had to see him, when you pressed us all to secure Plato's
visit to you, promisiug to provide for him, and to treat him
hospitably in every respect, and to ensure his safety both
while he remained vrith you, and when he departed.
Bemember this too that jou were veiy delighted indeed at his
arrival^ and that yon expressed great pleasure at the time,
such as you never did on any ouier occasion. And if anj
unpleasantness has arisen between you, you ought to behave
wim humanity, and restore the man unhurt ; for by so doing
you will act justly, and do us a favour.**

XVI. The third time that he went to Sicily was for the
purpose of reconciling Dion to Dionysius. And as he could
not succeed he returned back to his own country, having lost
his lalx)ur.

XVII. And in his own countiy he did uot meddle with
stiite affairs, although he was a politician as far as his writings
went. And the reason was, that the people were accnstomed
to a form of government and constitution different from what
he approved of. And Pamphile, in the twenty-fifth book of his
Commentaries, says that the Arcadians and Thebans, when
they were founding a great city, appointed him its lawgiver ;
but that he, when he had ascertained that they would not con-
sent to an equality of rights, refused to go thither.

XVIII. It is said dso, that he defended Chabrias the
general, when he was impeached in a capital charge ; when no
one else of the citizens would undertake the task : and as he
was going up towards the Acropolis with his client, Crobylus
the sycophant met him and said, ** Are you come to plead for

. another, not knowing that the hemlock of Socrates is waiting

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122

UYES OF SHINEliT PHILOSOFHEBS.

also for you ?" But he replied, *' Aud also, when T fonrrht for
my country I encountered dangers ; and now too 1 encounter
them in the cause of justice and for tlic defence of a friend.'*

XIX. He was the fii'st author who wrote treatises in the
form of dialogues, as Pharorinus tells us in the ei^^hth book of
his Universal History. And he was also the tirst person who
introduced the analytical method of investigation, which he
taught to Leodamus of Thasos. He was also the first person
in philosophy who spoke of antipodes, and elements, and dia-
lecticSy and actions (M^^m), and oblong numbers, and plane
surfaces, and the providence of God. He was likewise the
first of the philosophers who contradicted the assertion of Ly*
sias, the son of Cepbalus, setting it wit word for word in his
Phsedrus. And he was also the first person who examined the
subjeot of grammatical knowledge scientifically. And as he
argued against almost every one who had lived before his time,
it is often asked whv he has never mentioned Demochtus.

XX. Neanthes of Cyzicus says, that wlien he came to the
Olympic games all the Greeks who were present turned to look
at him : and that it was on that occasion that he held a con-
versation with Dion, who was on the point of attacking Diony-
sius. Moreover, in the first book of the Commentaries of
Phaiorinns, it is related tiiat Mithridates, the Persian, erected
astatneof Phito in the Academy, and put on it this inscription,

Mithridates, the son of Bhodobates, a Persian, consecrated
an image of Pkto to the Mnses, which was made by Sila-
mon.*

XXI. And HeracUdes says, that even while a yonng man,
he was so modest and well regulated, that he was never once
seen to laugh excessiTely.

XXII. Bat though he was of such a graf e character him-
self, he was nevertheless ridiculed bj the comic poets. Ac-
cordingly, Theopompus, in his I^easuie-seeker, says : —

For one tiling is no longer only one,

But two things now are Bcarcelj one ; as says

The solflmn IlatQ.

And Anaxandrides in his Theseus, says

When he ate olives like oat worthy Plato.

And Timoa speaks of him in this way, punning on his
name>—

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PLATO*

Ai Plato placed straoge platitudes on paper.*
Alexis says in bis Mesopis : —

You've come in time : since I've been doubting long,
And walking iip and down some time, Hkt Tllto;
And yet liaye mfc upon no en£tj plaxw
But only iafd my Itgi.

And in his Analion, he says : —

You speak of what yon rlo not understand,
Running about like Plato : hoping thus,
To learn the nature of saltpetre and onions.

Amphis says in his Amphicrates

a: Bnt what the good is, which yon hope to get

By means of hov my master, I no more

Can form a Botion o^ than of the good

Of Plato.
JB, Listen now.*

And in his Dexidemides he speaks thas

0 Plato ! how your" learning is confined

To gloomy looka^ and wrinkling up yonr brows.

Like any oodUOi

Cratinas in his PseudhpobolimsBus, says : —

You dearly are a man, endued with sens^
And so, as Plato 8ay% I do not know;
But I auspeet.

Alexis, in his Olympiodonis speahs Ans *

My mortal body became flry and withered :
But my immortal part rose to the sky.
Is not this Plato's doetrino ?

And in his Parasite he says : —

Or to oonverse time, like Plato.

Anaxilas also laughs at him in liis BotiyUon, and Circe,
and his Rich Women.

XXIII. And Aristippus, in the fourth book of his treatise j
upon Ancient Luxury, says that he was much attached to a ;
youth of the name of Aster, who used to study astronomy j
with him; and also to Dion, whom we have already men- J

• The Greek is, &c MwXam IIX^wv inirXaeyilya Oa^fiara

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tioned. And some say that he vas also attached to Phsedros*
and that the folbwing epigrams whidi ho wrote n^n them are
evidences of the bve he felt forthem: —

My Aster, you're gazing on the stars (derrlpic),
Would that I were the heavens, that so I might
Qam in retam with many eyeir on theei

Another of his epigrams is

Aster, you while among the Uviug shone,
The morning star. But now that you are dead.
Yon beam lilEe Hespema m the ahadea below.

And he wrote thus on Dion : —

Onoe, at their birth, the fates did destine teaia

To be the lot of all the Trojan women.
And Hecuba, their Queen — to you, 0 Dion,
As the deserved reward for gloriouH deeds,
They gave extensive and illustrious hopes.
And now yon lie beneaih your native soil ;
Honoured by all your countrymen, 0 Dion,
And loved by me witii arden^ lasting love.

And they say that this epigram is inscribed upon his tomb
at Syracuse. They say, also, that he was in love with Alexis,
and with Phaedrus, as I have already mentioned, and that he
wrote an epigram on them both, which runs thus : —

Now when Alexis is no longer aught,
Say only how beloved, how fair he was,
And every one does tarn his eyes at onoe.
Why, my mmd, do yon dlow the dogs a bone f
You're but prroaring trouble for yoaiself :
Have we not auo lost the lovely Fhssdrua t

There is also a tradition that he had a mistress named Ar-
chianassa, on whom he wrote the following lines : —

I have a mistress fidr from Colophon^

Archianassa, on whose very wrinkles
• '-"^ Sits penial love : hard must have been the fate.
Of him who met her earUest blaze of beauty,
Surely he must have been completely soorded. '

He also wrote this epigram on Agathon

While kissing Agathon, my soul did rise^

And hover'd o'er my lips ; wishing perchance,
O'er anxious that it wasy to migrate to him.

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PLATO.

Another of his epigrams is : —

I t}\row this apple to you. And if you
Love me who love you so, receive it gladly,
And let me taste your lovely vii^gin charms.
Or if tbat may not be, BtiU take the fruity
And in yoiu* bosom cherish it^ and learn
How fleetiiig is all graoefuhMOB and beauty.

And another

I am an apple, and am thrown to you,*
By one who loYe»:you : but consent, Xanthippe ;
For you and I shall both with time decay.

They also attribute to liim the following epigram on the
Erdtriaus who had been surprised in an ambusoade

We were Eretnanl^ of Eubsaan laoe ?

And now we lie near Susa, here entomb'd^
Far from my native land.

And this one aJso :—

Thus Venus to the muses spoke :
Damsels submit to Venus' yoke.

Or dread my Cupid's arms.
Those threats, the Virgins nine replied^
May weigh with Mars, but we deride

Love's wrong% or darts, or charms.

Another is : —

A certain person found some jgold.
Carried it oS, and in its stead
Left a strong hat^r neatlj roll'd.

The owner foundhia treasure fled ;
And powerless to endure his fortune's wreck^
Fitted the iialter to hia hapless neck.

XXIV. But Molon, who had a great dislike to Plato, sajs,
** There is not so much to wonder at in DionysiuB hexog at
Goriiith, as in Plato's being in Sicily. Xenophon, too, doefs
not appear to have been Y&rj friendlily disposed towards him :
and accordingly they have, as if in rivalry of one another, both
written hooks with the same title, the Banquet, the Defence of
Socrates, Moral Eeminiscences. Then, too, the one wrote the
CyropncUa and the other a hook on Politics ; and Plato in his
Laws si^, that the Gyropsedia is a mere romance, for that
pyros was not sndi a person as he is described in that book,
^d though they both speak so much of Socrates^ neither of

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LIVES OF EMINENT rHILOSOPH£B&

them ever mentions the other, except that Xenophon once
speaks of Plato in the third book of his Reminiscences. It is
said also, that Antisthenes, being about to recite something
that he had written, invited him to be present ; and that Plato
having asked -what he was going to recite, he said it was an
essay on the impropriety of contradicting. " How then," said
Plato, " can you write on this subject ?" and then he showed
him that he was arguing in a circle. But Antisthenes was
annoyed, and composed a dialogue agaiimt Plato, which he
titled Sothon ; after which they were always enemies to one
another r and they say that Socrates having heard Plato read
the Lysis, said, " O Hercules ! what a number of lies the
young man has told ahout me. " For he had set down a great
many things as sayings of Socrates which he never said.

Plato also was a great enemy of Aristippus ; accordingly, he
speaks ill of him in his book on the Soul, and says tliat he was
not with Socrates when he died, though he was in ^gina, at
no great distance. He also had a great rivalry with ^Eschi-
nes, for' that he had heen held in great esteem by Dionysius,
and afterwards came to want, and was despised by Plato, but .
supported by Aristippus. And Idomeneus says, that the speech
which Plato attributes to Orito in the prison, when he coun-
selled Socrates to make his escape, was really delivered by
^sohines, but that Plato attributed it to Crito because of his
dislike to the other. And Plato nerer makes the slightest
mention of him in any of his books, except in the treatise on
the Soul, and the Defence of Socrates.

XXV. Aristotle says, that the treatises of Plato are some-
thing between poems and prose ; and Pharorinus says, when
Plato read his treatise on the Soul, Aristotle was the only
person who sat it out, and that all the rest rose up and went
away. And some say that Philip the Opuntian copied out the
whole of bis books upon Laws, which were written on waxen
tablets only. Some people also attribute the Epinomis to him.
Euphorion and Panietius have stated that the beginning of the
treatise on the Republic was often altered and re-written ; and
that very treatise, Aristoxenus affirms, was found almost entire
in the Contradictions of Protagoras ; and that the first book
he wrote at all was the Phsedrus ; and indeed that composition
has a good many indications of a young composer. But Dica^
aichus blames the whole style of that work as vulgar.

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»iATO. 127

XXV I. A stoiy is told, that Plato, having seen a man play-
ing at dice, reproached him for it, and that he said he was playing
for a trifle ; " But the habit^" rejoined Plato, "is not a trifle/'
On one occasion he was asked whether there would be any

monument of him, as of his predecessors in philosophy ? and
lie answered, " A man must first make a name, and the monu-
ment will follow." Once, when Xenocrates came into his house,
he desired him to scourge one of his slaves for him, for that
he himself could not do it because he was in a passion ; and
that at another time he said to one of his slaves, " I should beat
you if I were not in a passion." Having got on horseback he
dismounted again immediately, saying that he was afraid tiiat
he should be infected with horse-pride. He used to advise
people who got drunk to look in the glass, and then they would
abandon their unseemly habit ; and he said that it was never
decorous to drink to the degree of drunkenness, except at the
festivals of the God who had given men wine. He also dis-
approved of much sleeping : accordingly in his Laws he says,
'* No one while sleeping is good for anything." Another say-
ing of his was, ** That the pleasantest of all things to hear was
the trutli ; but others report this saying thus, That the sweetest
of all things was to speak truth." And of truth he speaks
thus in his T.aws, ** Truth, my friend, is a beautiful and a
durable tiling ; but it is not easy to persuade men of this
feet."

XXVII. He used also to wish to leave a memorial of
himself behind, either in the hearts of his friends, or in his

books.

XXVIII. He also used to travel a good deal as some
authors inform us.

XXIX. And he died in the manner we have already
mentioned, in the thirteenth year of tbe reign of Philip of
Macedon, as Pharorinus mentions in the third book of his
Commentaries ; and Theopompus relates that Philip on one
occasion reproached him. But Mjsoniaaus, in his Resem-
blances, says that Pliilo mentions some proverbs that were in
circulation about Plato's Hce ; implying that he had died of
that disease. ^

XXX* He was hurled in the Academy, where he spent
the greater part of his time in the practice of philosophy,
from which his was called the Academic school; and lua

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128 LIVES OF EMINENT PHILOSOPHERS.

funeral was attended by all the pupils of that sect. And he
made his will in the following terms : — " Plato left these things,
and has bequeathed them as follows : — The farm in the district
of the Hephaistiades, bounded on the north by the road from
the temple of the Cephiciades, and on the south by the temple
of Hercules, which is in the district of the Hephaestiades ;
and on the east by the estate of Archestratus the Phreanian,
and on the west by the farm of Philip the Challidian, shall
be incapable of being sold or alienated, but shall belong to my
son Ademantus as far as possible. And so likewise shall my
farm in the district of the Eiresides, which I bought of Calli-
machus, which is bounded on the north by the property of
Eurymedon the M^Trhinusian, on tlie south by that of
Demostratus of Xypeta, <m the east by that of Euiymedcn
the Myrrhinusian, and on the west by the Cephisus ; — I also
leave hini three miiuc of silver, a silver goblet wei<^hing a
hundred and sixty-five drachms, a cup weighing forty-five
drachms, a golden ring, and a golden ear-ring, weighing
together four drachms and three obols. Euclides the stone-
cutter owes me three minoe. I leave Diana her liberty. My
slaves Sychon, Bictas, Apolloniades, and Dionysius, I bequeath
to my son ; and X also give him all my furniture, of which
Demetrius has a catalogue. I owe no one anything. Mj
executors shall be Tozthenes, Speusippus» Demetrius, Megias,
£urymedon, Callimachus, and TJimsippus." This was his
will. And on his tomb the following epigrams were inscribed.
First of all :—

Here, firat of all men for pure justice famedy

And moral virtue, Aristocles lies ;
And if there e'er haa lived one truly wise,

This man WM wiser rtOl ; too great for envy.

A second is :—

Here in her bosom does the tender earth '
Embrace great Plato's corpse. — His soul aloft

Has ta'en its place among the immortal Gods.
AriBton's glorious aon— whom all good mailt

Thoogh in far oouatrie% held in loye and honour,
Bemembering his pure and god-like life.

There is another which is more modem

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1^9

A. Eagle^ wliy fly you o'er this holy tomb f
Or are you on your way, with lofty wing,
To some bright starry domicile of the Gtods \

JB. I am the image of the soul of Plato,
And to Olympus now am borne on high ;
His body Ues in his owi native Attioa.

We ourselves also have written one epigram on bim, which
is as follows : —

If fav'ring Phoebus had not Plato given

To Greciiin lands, bow would tba Maznad God

Have e'er instructed mortal minds in leamillg t
But he did send him, that as JEsculapius
I His son 's the best physician of the body,

So Plato should be of the immortal souL

And others, alluding to his death *

Phoebus, to bless mankind, became the father

Of ^aculapius, and of god-like I'lato ;

That one to b«d the body, this the mind.

Now, from a marriage feast be's gone to heaven.

To realize the happy city there,

Which he has pUumed fit for the realms of Jova

These then are the epigrams on him.

XXXI. His disciples were, Speusippus the Athenian,
Zenocrates of Chalcedoii, Aristotle the Stagiritc, Philip of
Opus, liistiieus of I'erintlius, Dion of Syracuse, Amyclus of
Heraclea, Erastus and Coriscus of Sceptos, Timolaus of
Cyzicus, Eudon of Lanipsacus, Pithou iiud Ileraclides of
jEmus, Hippothales and Callippus, Athenians, Demetrius of
Amphipolis, Heraclides of Pontus, and numbers of others,
among whom there were also two women, Lasthenea of
Mantinea, and Axiothea of Phlius, who used even to wear
man's clothes, as we are told by Diciearchus. Some say that
Theophrastus also was a pupil of his ; and Chamfelion says
that Hyperides the orator, and Lycurgus, were so likewise.
Polemo also asserts that Demosthenes was. Sabinus adds
Mnesistratus of Thasos to the number, quoting authority for
the statement in the fourth book of hiB Meditative Matter;
and it is not improbable.

XXXII. But as you, 0 lady, are rightly very much attached
to Plato, and as you are very fond of hunting out in every
quarter all the doctrines of the philosopher mt^ great eager-

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LIVES OF miSEJUT PHIIiOSOPH£B&

ness, I have thought it necessary to subjoin an account of the
general character of his lectures, and of the arrangement of
his dialogues, and of the method of his inductive argument ;
going back to their elements and first principles as far as I
could, so that the collection of anecdotes concerning his life
which I have been able to make, may not be curtailed by the
omission of any statement as to his doctrines* For it would
be like sending owls to Athens, as the proverb is, if I were to
descend to particular details.

They say now, that Zeno, the Eleatic, was the first person
who composed essays in the form of disdogoe. But Aristotle,
in the first book of his treatise on Poets, says that Alexander,
a native of Styra, or Teos, did so before him, as Phavorinus
also says in his Commentaries. But it seems to me that Plata
gave this kind of writing the last polish, and that he has
Sierefore, a just right to the first honour, not only as the
improver, but also as inventor of that kind of writing. Now,
the dialogue is a discoui^e carried on by way of question and
answer, on some one of the suljects w ith which philosophy is
oonveisant, or with which statesmanship is concerned, with a
becoming attention to the characters of the persons who ave
introduced as speakers, and with a careful selection of language
governed by the same consideration. And dialectics is the
art of conversbg, by means of which we either overturn dl
establish the proposition contended for, by means of the ques-
tions and answers which are put in the mouths of the parties
.conversing. Now, of the Platonic discourse there are two
characteristics discernible on the veiy sur&ce ; one fitted for
guiding, the other for investigating.

The first of these has two subordinate species, one specular
tive, the other practical ; and of these two again, the speculative
is divided into the natural and the logical, and the practical
into the ethical and the political. Again, the kind fitted
for investigating has also two primary divisions with their
separate characteristics, one object of wmch is simply practice,
the other being also disputatious : and the first of these two is
again subdivided into two ; one of which may be compared to
the art of the midwife, and the other is at it were tentative ;
the disputatious one is also divided into the demonstrative and
the distinctive.

But we are not unaware tliat some writers distinguish the

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181

vaxioiiB dialogues in a different manner &om what we do. For
they say that some of them are dramatic, and others narratiTe,
and others of a mixed nature. But they, in this division, are
classifying the dialogues in a theatrical rather than in a philo-
8ophi(»l manner. Some of the dialogues also refer to suhjects
of natural philosophy, such as the Timteus. Of the logical
class, there are the Politics, the Gratylus, the Parmenides, and
the Sophist. Of the ethical kind there is the defence of
Socrates, the Grito, the Phssdo, the Phsddrus, the Banquet,
the Menezenus, the Clitiphon, the Epistles, the Philebus, the
Hipparchus, and the Bim Lovers. the political class lliere
is die Republic, the Laws, the Minos, the Epinomis, and the
Atlanticus. Of the midwife description we have the two
Alcibiades^s, the Theages, the Lysis, the Laches. Of the
tentative khid, there is the Euthyphro, the Meno.. the Ion,
the Ohaimides, and the Thesetetus. Of the demonstratiye
description, we have the Protagoras, and of the distinctive
class die Euthydemus, the two Hippias's, and the Gorgias.
And this is enough to say about the dialogues as to what they
are, and what their different kinds are.

XXXIII. But since there is also a great division of opinion
respecting them, from some people asserting that in them
Plato dogniati/cs in a positive manner, while others deny this,
we had better also touch upon this part of the question.
Now, dogmatizing is laying down dogmas, just as legislating
is making laws. But the word dogma is used in two senses ;
to mean both that which we think, and opinion itself. Now
of these, that which we think is the proposition, and opinion
is the conception by which we entertain it in our minds. Plato
then explains the opinions which he entertains himself, and
refutes false ones ; and about doubtful matters he suspends
his judgment. His opinions of matters as they appear to hiui
he puts into the mouth of four persons, Socrates, TinuDus, an
Athenian poet, and an Eleatic stranger. But the straugertJ
are not, as some people have sup})osed, Plato and Parmenides,
hut certain nameless imaginary characters. Since Plato asserts
as undeniable axioms all the opinions which he puts into the
mouth of Socrates or Timjeus. But when he is refuting false
propositions, he introduces such characters as Thrasymachus,
and Callicles, and Polus, and Gorgias, and Protagoras, Hippi-
astro, and iiiuthydemus, and men of that stomp. But when

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18d LIVES OF EMINENT PHILOSOPHERS.

he is demonstrating anything, tlicn lie chiefly uses the induc-
tive form of argument, and that too not of one kind only, but
of two. For induction is an argument, which by means of
some admitted truths establishes naturally other truths wliich
resemble them. But there are two kinds of induction ; the
one proceeding from contraries, the other from consequents.
Now, the one which proceeds from contraries, is one in which
from the answer given, whatever tliat answer may be, the con-
trary of the principle indicated in the question must follow.
As for instance. My father is either a different person from
your father, or he is the same person. If now your father is
a different person from my father, then as he is a different
person from a father, he cannot be a father. If, on the other
hand, he is the same person as my father, then, since he is
the same pei'son as my father, he must be my father. And
again, if man be not an animal, he must be either a stone or
a piece of wood ; but he is not a stone or a piece of wood, for
he is a hving animal, and capable of independent motion.
Therefore, he is an animal. Ikit, if he is an animal, and a
dog or an ox is likewise an animal, then man must be an
animal, and a dog, and an ox. — This then is the method of
induction in contradiction and contention, which Plato was
accustomed to employ, not fur the purpose of establishing
principles of his own, but with the object of refuting the
arguments of others.

Now, the inductive kind of argument drawn from conse-
quents is of a twofold character. The one proving a particular
opinion by an admitted fact of an equally particular nature ;
or else going from particulars to generals. And the first of
these two divisions is the oxatoncal one, the second the
dialectic one. As for instance, in the former kind the ques-
tion is whether this person has committed a murder; the
proof is that he was found at the time covered with blood*
But this is the oxatorical method of employing the induction ;
since oratory is conversant about particulars, and does not
concern itself about generals. For its object is not to ascer-
tahi abstract justice, but only particular justice. The other
is the dialectic ^kind, the general proposition having been
established by particular ones. As for instance, the question
is whether the soul is immortal, and whether the living con-
sist of those who have once been dead ; and this proposition

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Plato establishes in his book on the Soul, by a certain geneial
proposition, that contraries arise out of contraries ; and this,
identical general proposition is established by certain particcdar
ones. As» for instance, that sleep Mows on waking, and
waking from sleeping, and the greater from the less, and
reversely the less from the greater. And this kind of
induction he used to employ for the establishment of his own
opinions.

XXXIY. Anciently, in tragedy, it was only the choms
who did the whole woi^ of the play ; but subsequently,
Thespis introduced one actor for the sake of giving the chorus
some rest, and ^schylus added a second^ and Sophocles a
third, and so they made tragedy complete. So in the same
manner, philosophical discourse was originally uniform, con-
cerning itself solely about natural philosophy ; then Socrates
added to it a second character, the ethical : and Plato a third,
the dialectic : and so he brought philosophy to perfection.

XXXy. But Thrasybulus sii^s that he published his dia*
logues as the dramatic poets published their tetralogies. For,
they contended with four plays, (and at four festivals, the
Dionysiac, the Lenflean, the Panathenaan, and the Cbytri),
one of which was a satiric drama, and the whole four plays
were called a tetralogy. Now, people say, the whole of his
genuine dialogues amount to fifty-six; the treatise on the
Bepublic being divided into ten books, (which Phavorinus, in
the second book of his Universal History, says may be found
almost entire in the Contradictions of Protagoras), and that
on Laws into twelve. And there are nine tetralo*^aes, if we
consider the Republic as occn[)ying the place of one book, and
the Laws of anoilier. He arnuiges, therefore, the iu'st tetra-
logy of these dialogues which have a common subject, wishing
to show what sort of life that of the philosopher may have
been. And he uses two titles for each separate book, taking
one from the name of the principal speaker, and the other
from the sulyect.

This tetralogy then, which is the first, is commenced by
the Euthyphron, or what is Holy ; and that dialogue is a
tentative one. The second is the Defence of Socrates, a moral
one. The third is the Criton, or What is to be done, a moral
one. The fourth is the PbsBdo, or Uie Dialogue on the boul,
a moral one.

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LIVES OF EMINENT PHILOSOPHEBCL

The second tetralogy is that of which the first piece is the
Cratylus, or the con ( ctness of names, a logical one. The
Meaitetus, or Knowledge, a tentative one. The Sopliist, or a
dialogue on the Existent, a logical one. The StatesmaHj or
a dialogue of Monarchy, a logical one.

The first dialogue in the liiird tetralogy is the Parmenides,
or a dialogue of Ideas, a logical one. The second is the
Philelus, or on Pleasure, a moral one. The Banquet, or on
the Good, a moral one. The PhsdroB, or on Love, a moral
one. *

The fourth tetralogy opens with the Alcibiades, or a
treatise on the Nature of Man, a midwife like work. The
second Alcibiades, or on Prayer, a piece of the same charac-
ter. The Hippaichus, or on the Love of Gain, a moxal one.
The Rival Lovers, or a treatise on Philosophy, a moral one.

The first dialogue in the fifth is the Theages, or another
treatise on Philosophy, another midwife-like. work. I'he
Cjharmides, or on Temperance, a tentative essay. The
Laches, or on Manly Courage, midwife like. The Lysis, or a
dissertation on Friendship, also midwife-like.

The sixth tetralogy commences with the Euthydemus, or
the Disputatious Man, a distinctive dialogue. Then comes the
Protagoras, or the Sophists, a demonstrative one. The Gorgias,
or a dissertation on Rhetoric, another distinctive one. And
the Mono, or on Virtue, a tentative dialogue.

The seventh begins with tiie two Hippias's. The first being
a dissertation on the Beautiful, the second one on Falsehood,
both distinctive. The third is the Ion, or a dissertation on
the Iliad, a tentative one. The fourtii is the Menezenus, or
the Funeral Oration, a moral one.

The first dialogue in the eighth is the Olitophon, or the
E^rtation, a moral piece. Then comes the Bepublic, or the
treatise on Justice, a political one. The Timnus, or a dis-
sertation on Nature, a dialogue on Natural Philosophy. And
the Gritias, or Atlanticus, a moral one

The ninth begins with the Minos, or a treatise on Law, a
political work. The Laws, or a dissertation on Legislation,
another political work. The Epinomis, or the Nocturnal
Conversation, or the Philosopher* a third political one.

XXXYL And this last tetralogy is completed by thirteen
epistles, aU moral ; to which is prefixed as a motto, tZ ^mtv^

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jost as Epicurus inscribed on his tl bidyin^ and Cleon on his
X^pf^' They are, one^ letter to Aristodemns, two to Arohytas,
four to Dionydos, one to Henneias, Erastus, and Coriscns,
one to Leodaroa.s, one to Dion, one to Perdiccas, and two to
the friends of Dion.

XXXyil. And this is the way in which some people
divide his works. But others^ among whom is Aristophanes,
the grammarian, arrange his dialogues in trilogies ; and they
make the first to consist of the Bepuhlic, the Timsus and the
Oritiaa.

The second of the Sophist, the Statesman, the Cratylus.
The third of the Laws, the Minos, the Epinomis.
The fourth of the Thestetus, the Enthyphro, the Defence
of Socrates.

The fifth of the Crito, the Phcedo, the Epistles.

And the rest they anange singly and independently, without
any regular order. And some authors, as has been said
alr^dy, place the Bepublio at the head of his works : others
begin with the Greater Alcibiades : others with the Theages ;
some with the Euthyphro, others with the Clitophon ; some
with the TimsBus, some with the Phaddros, others again with
the The»tetus. Many make the Defence of Socrates the first
piece.

There are some dialogues attributed to him which are
confessedly spurious. The Midon, or the Horse-breeder ; the
Efyxias, or Eraststratus ; the Alcyon; the Acephali, or
Sisyphi ; the Aidochus ; the PhaBacians ; the Demodorns ;
The Chilidott ; the Seventh ; the Epimenides. Of "which the
Alcyon is believed to be the work of a man named I. eon ; as
Phavorinus tells us in the seventh book of liis Commentaries.

XXXVIIL But he employs a great variety of terms in
order to render his philosophical system unintelligible to the
ignorant. In his phraseolog)- he considers wisdom as the
knowledge of tilings wliich can be understood by the intellect,
and which have a real existence : which has the Gods for its '
object, and the soul as unconnected with the body. He also,
with a peculiarity of expression, calls wisdom also philosophy,
which he explains as a desire for divine wisdom. But wisdom
and experience are also used l)y him in their common accepta-
tion ; as, for instance, when he calls an artisan wise {co(phg),
lie also uses the same words in dififereut senses at different

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times. Accordingly he uses <pavXog in the sense of a^Xovs,
simple, in viibkh meaning also the word occurs in Euripides,
in liie liqymoniiis, where the poet speaks of Hercules in the
foUowing terms

1 Mean looking (^auXof), rude, ^'irtuous in grott tlBB&n,
Measuring all wi.sdoin by its last refiultfly
A hero uiu eiined in speech.

But Plato uses the word sometimes even for what is
beautiful ; and sometimes for small and insignilicant ; and
very often he uses different words to express the same idea.
Accordingly, besides the word idea for a class, he uses also
(Jdog, and ymg, and ^a^ddstyft.a, and a^x^* curm. Sometimes
he uses opposite expressions for the same thing ; accordingly,
he says that it is an object of sensation that exists, while at
other times he says it is that which does not exist ; speaking
of it as existing because of its origin, and as non-existent with
reference to its continual changes. Then again, he defines
his ibia as something which is neither moving nor stationary,
at one time calling Uie same thing, at another time one thing,
at a third time many things. And he is in the habit of doing
this in many instances.

And the explanation of his arguments is three-fold. For
first of all, it is necessaiy to explain what each thing that is
said is ; secondly, on what account it is saidi whether because
of its bearing on the principal point, or figuratively* and
whether it is said for the purpose of establishing an opmion of
his own, or of lefiiting the arguments brou^t forward by the
other party to the conversation ; and thudly, whether it has
been said truly.

XXXIX. But since there are some particular marks put in-
his books, we must also say something about them, x
indicates- peculiar expressions and figures of speech, and
generally any peculiarities* of Plato's style. When doubled it
points to the doctrines and peculiar opinions of Plato ; ^
when dotted all round, pomts to some sdect bits of beautifd
writing. When doubled and dotted it indicates corrections of
some passages. A dotted obelus indicates hasty disapproyals.
An invertea sigma dotted all round points out passages winch
may be taken in a double sense, and transpositions oi words.

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137

The Ceraunium* indicates a connection of philosophical ideas.
An asterisk points out an agreement in doctrine. And an
obelus marks the rcgection of the expression or of the passage.
These then are the maiginal marks which occur, and the
writings of which Plato was the author : — which, as Antigonus
. the Caiystian says, in his treatise on Zeno, when they had
heen hut lately published, brought in some gain to the posses-
sors, if any one else was desirous of reading them.

XL. These now were his chief opinions. He affinned that
the soul was immortal and clothed in many bodies successively,
and that its first principle was number, and that the first
principle of the body was geometiy. And he defined it as an
abstract idea of spirit dilhxsed in every direction. He said
also, that it was self-moving and threefold. For that that
part of it which was capable of reasoning was situated in the
bead, that that portion which was affected by passion was
seated around the heart, and that which was appetitive was
placed around die navel and the liTer. And that it is placed
in the middle of the body, and embraces it at the same time
in all its parts, and that it consists of elements ; and that
when it is divided according to harmonic intervals it forms
two connected circles ; of which the inner circle is divided
into six portions, and makes in all seven cardes ; and that
this is placed on die left hand of the diameter, and situated
in the interior. But the other is on the right hand of the
same line ; on which account, and because it is one only, it is
the superior of the two. For the other is divided intenially ;
and this too, is the drcle of that whidi is always the same ;
the other, the cirole of that which is changeable and different
And the one he says is the motion of the soul, but the other
is the motion of the universe and of the planets.

On the other side, the ^vision of the circles from the centre
to the extremities, being harmoniously appropriated to the
essence of the soul, the one knows existing things and esta-
blishes harmony between them, because it is itself composed
of harmonious elements. The circle of what is changeable,
engenders opinion by its regular movements ; but the circle
of that which is always^ the same produces knowledge.

XLI. Plato lays down two primary causes or principles
of all things, God and matter, which he also calls mind,
. ♦ This figiire was like a barbed arrow, according to ievort. ^

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and the cause. And he defines matter as somethhig without
shape and without limitation, and says thatfinym it all ooncre-
tions arise. He affirms also that as it was moving about at
random, it was brought by God into one settled place, as God
thought order better than disorder; and that this nature is
divided into four elements, fire, water, air, and earth, of which
the world itself and everything in it was made. But he says
that the earth is the only thing that is unchangeable^ as he
considers the cause to be die difierence of the figures of which
it is composed ; for he says that the figures of tiie others are
homogeneous ; for that they are all composed equally of scalene
tnangles The figure of the earth, however, is peculiar to
itself ; for the element of fire is a pyramid ; of air, an octagon ;
of water, an;eicosagou ; and of the earth, a cube ; owing to which
Wiese things cannot be changed into earth, nor earth into them.
He teaches also that these elements are not separated so as to
occupy each a peculiar and distinct place ; for the spherical
motion collects and compresses all the small things towards tiie
centre, and the small things separate the great ones, on which ac-
count the species, as they change, do also change their positions.

Moreover he asserts that tl^ world is one, and has been pro-
duced, since it has been made by God, in such amanner as to
be an olject of sensation. And he considers it endowed with
life, because that which is so endowed, is si^erior to that which
IS not» and it must be the production of the most excellent pro-
ducer. It is also one, and ilWtable ; because the model
after which it was made was one ; and it is spherical, because
its creator was of that form ; for it also contains all other
animals, and God who made it comprises all forms. And it
IS smooth, and has no iDstruments whatever all round it,
because it has no need of any. But the whole world 'remains
imperishable, because it cannot be resolved into God ; and God
is the cause of universal production, because it is the nature of
the good to be productive of good ; and the Lest is the cause of
the production of the heaven ; for the best of all jiroductions
can have no other cause than the best of all intelligible
existences. And since God is of that character, and since
heaven resembles the best, inasmuch as it is at least the most
beautiful of all things, it cannot be like anything else that is
produced, except God.

He also teaches that the world consists of fire, water, air,

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139

and earth ; of fire, in order that it may be visible ; #f earth, in
order that it may be firm ; of water and air, that it may not be
destitute of proportion ; for two middle temis are indispensable
to keep the solid bodies in due proportion to one another, and
to realize the unity of the whole. In short, the world is formed
of all the elements together, in order that it maj be perfect
and imperishable.

Again, time is the imago of eternity ; eternity subsists for
ever : but the motion of the heaven is time ; for day, and
night, and the months, and all such divisions, are parts of time,
on which account there could be no such thing as time apart
from the nature of the world ; for time existed contempo-
raneously and simultaneous^ with the world* And it was with
reference to time that the sun, and the moon, and the planets
were made ; and it was in order that the numher of the seasons
might be manifest, and that the animals might partake of num-
ber, that God kindled the light of the sun ; and that the moon
was above the circle of the earth, and that the son was next to
it, and in the still higher circles were the phmetB. And that
the um?6r86 was animated, because it was altogether bound up
in animated motion, and that the race of all o&er animals was
produced in order that the world might be made perfect, and re-
sembling an animal such as could be comprehended by intellect.
Since then God had life, the heaven also most have life ; and the
Gods are to a great extent composed of fire. And Uiere are
three other nu*es of animals, those wbieh fly in the air; those
which lives in the water ; those which walk in the earth. The
oldest of all the deities in heaven is the Earth ; she was formed in
order to be the dispenser of night and day ; and as she is placed
in the centre, she is constantly in motion around the centre.

And since there are two efficient causes, some things must,
he says, be affirmed to exist in consequence of intellect, and
some from some necessary cause. Now necessary causes are
the air, fire, earth, and water, these not being real elements,
but raider receptacles ; and they too are formed of triangles
in combination, and are resolvable inte triangles ; and their
elements are the scalene triangle and the isosceles. These two
before mentioned elements are the principles and causes of
things, of which the models are God and matter, which last
must necessarily be destitute of form, as is llie case of other
receptacles. Aiid that the cause of these thingp was a necessary

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140 LIVES OF EMINENT PHILOSOPHEBS.

cause, whi(^, receiving the ideas, produced the substaiiGes/and
was moved by the dissimilarity of its own power, and agidn hy
its motion compelled those things which were moved by it to
move other things in their turn.

But all these things were formerly moved without any reason
or order ; but after &ej began to form the world by their com-
bination, they then received symmetry and regularity from Grod,
according to the principles applicable to them; for the efficient
causes, even hefSre the creation of the heaven, were two in
number. There was also a third, namely production; but
these were not very evident, but rather traces than actual
things, and quite devoid of regularity. But after the world
was made, then they too assumed a regular form and arrange*
ment; but the heaven was made of all existing bodies. And
Plato considers that God is incorporeal just as the soul is, and
that it is owing to that that he is not affected by any destruction
or external circumstances. And ideas, as we have said before,
he defines as certain causes and principles, owing to whidi it
is that such and such things are by nature what they are.

XLII. On the sulgect of good and evil, these were his sen-
timents : that the end was to become like God ; and that
virtue was sufficient of herself for happiness, but noTertheless
required the advantages of the body as instruments to work
wiu ; such as heal^, strength, the integrity of the senses, and
thmg9 of that kind ; and also external advantages, such as
riches, and noble birth, and glory. Still that the wise man
would be not the less happy, even if destitute of these auxiliary
circumstances; for he would enjoy the constitution of his
country, and would marrv, and would not transgress the es-
tablished laws, and that he would legislate £>r his country, as
well as he coidd under existing drcumstances, unless he saw
affidrs in an unmanageable condition, in consequence of the
excessive factiousness of the people. He thinks too that the
Gods supermtend all the affairs of men, and that there are such
beings as diemons. And he was the first person who defined the
notion of the honourable, as that which borders on the praise-
worthy, and the logical, and the useful, and the becoming, and
the expedient, all which things are combined with that which
is suitable to, and in accorilanco with, nature.

XLIII. He also dLicubsed in liis dialogues the correctness of
terms, so that he was the first peibou who reduced the science

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141

of ^ving correct answeis, and putting correct questions to a
^tem, which he himself used to satiety.

XLI V. In his dialogues he used to speak of justice as a kind
of law of God, as being of influence sufficient to excite men to
act jusUy, in order to avoid sufiferiug punishment as malefac-
tors after death. Owing to which he appeared to some people
rather fond of mythical stories, as he mingled stories of this
kind with his writings, in order by the uncertainty of all the
circumstances that aSfect men after their death, to induce them
to abstain from evil actions. And these were his opinions.

XLY. He used too, says Aristotle, to divide things in this
manner Of good, some have their place in the mind, some
in the body, and some are wholly eztemaL As, for instance,
justice, and prudence, and manly courage, and temperance,
and qualities of that sort eadst in the soul. Beauty, and a
good constitution^ and health, and strengdi exist in the body.
But friends, and the prosperity of one's country, and wealth,
are external goods. There are then three species of goods,
some in the soul, some in the body, and some external
to either,

XLY I. There are also three species of friendship. For one
kind is natural, another that which arises from companionship ;
and the third is that which is produced by ties of hospitality.
We call that natural friendship which parents feel towards
their offspring, and relations towards one another; and this
is partaken of by other animals besides men. We call that
the friendship of companionship which arises from a habit of
association, and which has no reference to ties of blood, such
as the friendship of Pvlades for Orestes. That which arises
from ties of hospitality is one which owes its origin to agree
ments, and which is carried on by means of letters between
strangers. There is, therefore, natural fiieudship, and friend-
ship between companions, and between strangers. Some
also add a fourth kind, namely, the friendship of love.

XLVII. Of political constitutions there are five species.
There is one kind which is democratical, a second which is
aristocratical, a third is oligarchical, a fourtli monarchical, and
the fifth is tyrannical. Now, the democratical form of con-
stitution exists in those cities in wliich the multitude has the
chief power, and elects magistrates, and passes laws at its own
pleasure. But an aristocracy is that form in which neither

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142 LIVES OF £MIN£NT PHILOSOPH£KS.

. the rich, nor the poor, nor the most illustrious men of the city
rule, but the most nobly born have the chief sway. And
oligarchy is that constitution in which the magistracies are-
distributed acconliug to some sort of rating : for the rich are
fewer in number than tlie poor. The monarchical constitution
is either dependent on law or on family. That in Carthage
depends on law; that in LactXHlemon and Macedonia ou
family ; for they select their sovereign out of some particular
family. But a tyranny is that kind of government in which
the people are either cajoled or constrained into being governed
hy a single individuaL Forms of government then, are
divided into demociacy, axiBtocracy, oligGurchy, monaichj, and
tyranny.

XL VIII. Again, of justice tiiere are three species. For
there is one kind which is conTersant with the gods ; a second
which has reference to men ; and a third, which concerns the
dead. For they w ho saciifice according to the laws, and who
pay due respect to the temples, are manifestly pious to the
gods. And those who repay what has been lent to them, and
restore what lias heen deposited with them, act justly as to
men. And those who pay due respect to the tombs, clearly
are pious towards the dead. There is, therefore, one justice
towards the Gods, a second towards men, and a third towards
the dead.

XLIX. In the same way. there are also three species of
knowledge. There is one kind which is practical, a second
which is productive, a third which is theoretical For the
science of building houses or ships, is production. ^ For one
can see the work which is produced by it Political science,
and the science of playing the flute, or the harp, or such
things as ttiat, is practical; for one cannot see any visiUe re-
sult which has been produced by them, and yet they are doing
something. For one man plays the flute or plays the harp,
and another occupies himsdf with state afibirs. Again, geo-
metrical, and harmonic, and astronomioal science are all
theoretical, for they do nothing, and produce nothing. But
the geometrician theorizes as to what relation lines bear to
one another ; and the harmonist speculates about sounds, and
the astronomer about stars and about the world. Accordingly,
of sciences some are theoretical, others productiYe, and a tidrd
species is practicaL

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148

L* Of medical scienoe there are five spedes : one, pbaima^
ceutical; a second, nuinual; a third, conversant about the
regulation of the manner of life, and the diet ; a fourtlii the
business <^ which is to detect diseases ; and the fifth is re-
medial. The pharmaceutical relieves infirmities by means of
medicines ; the manual heals men by cutting and cauterizing ;
the one which attends to the diet, gets lid of diseases by
altering and regulating the diet; the fourth produces its effects
by a thorough comprehension of the nature of the disease ; and
the last reueves men from suffering by bringing prompt as-
sistance at the moment Medical science, then, is divided
into the pharmaceutical the manual, the dietetic, the diagnos-
tic, and the remedial.

LI. Of law there are two divisions. For there is a written
and an unwritten law. The one by which we regulate our
constitutions in our cities, is the written law ; that which
arises fiom custom. Is the unwritten law. As, for instance,
for a man to come naked into the market place, or to wear
woman's clothes, are actions which are not prohibited by any
law, and yet we never do them because they are forbidden by
the unwritten law. Law, therefore, is divided into tlie written
and the unwritten law.

iill. Discoui'se is divided into five heads; one of which
iieads is tliat which statesmen cniploy ^vben tliey speak in the
public assembUes ; and tliis is called political. Another
division is that which orators use in tlicir written harangues,
and bring forward for the sake of display in panegyrics or
reproaches, or inipeachnients. And such a description of
discourse as this is the rhetorical. A third class is tliat which
private individuals use when conversing with one another.
This is called private discourse. Another kind is that which
is employed when men converse by means of putting short
questions and giving brief answers to those who question
^em. This is called the dialectic kind of discourse. The
fifth division is that which artists adopt when conversing on
their own particular art, and this is called professional dis-
course. Thus discourse, then, is divided into political,
rhetorical, private, dialectic, and professional.

LIII. Music again is divided into tliree species. For
there is the music of the mouth alone, such as song ; se-
condly, there is the music which is performed bj the hands and

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144 LIVXS OF BMIHENT FH1L060PHEBS.

moath togetih6r» such as singing to the harp ; thirdly, there
is that which is executed by the hands alone, snch as harp
pkying. Music, therefore, is divided into music of the
mouth, music of the moul^i and hands, and music of the
hands,

LIV. Nobleness of birth is divided into lour species ; the
first is when one's ancestors are noble, and valiant, and just ;
in which case they say that their posterity are nobly bom*
The second kind is when one*s ancestors have been princes
and rulers of nations, and their posterity also we call noble.
Another kind is when one's ancestors have been distinguished
for personal renown, such, for instance, as is gained by
generalship or by victory at the games. For their o^pring
also we address as nobly bom. And the last kind is when
a man is himself noble in his spirit, and magnanimous. For
that man also we call noble, and this is the last kind of
nobility. There is, therefore, nobility arising from virtuous
ancestors, from royal ancestors, from iUustrious ancestors, and
from one's own excellent qualities.

LV. Beauty also is divided into three kinds. For there is
one kind which is praiseworthy, as that of a heautiful face. •
Another which is useful, as an instrumt^nt or a house, and
things of that kind which are beautiful, with reference to our
use of them. There is also a beauty with reference to laws,
and habits, and things of that kmd, which is likewise beautiful,
because of its utility. So that beauty again is looked at in
three ways, with reference to its praise, its utility, and to our
use of it,

LVI. The soul is divided into three parts; for one part of
it is capable of reason, another is inlluenced by appetite, the
third part is liable to passion. Of these the reasoning part
is the cause of deliberating, and reasoning, and understanding,
and everything of that kind. The appetite part is that portion
of the soul wliich is the cause of desiring to eat, and to em-
brace, and things of that kind. The passionate part is the
cause of men feeling confidence and delight, and grief and
anger. The soul therefore is divided into the reasoning part,
the appetitive part, and the passionate part.

LVII. Of perfect virtue tliere are four species. One is
prudence, one is justice, the third is manly gallantry, and the
fourth is temperance. Of these, prudence is tlie cause of a

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man acting rightly in affairs; justice is the cause of his
acting justly in partuerships and bargains ; maulj gallantry is
the cause of a iiiau s not being alarmed amid dangers and for-
midable circumstances, but standing lirm ; and temperance is
the cause of his subduing his appetites, and being enslaved by
no pleasure, hut living decorously. So that virtue is divided
into prudence, justice, manly gallantry, and temperance.

LVIII. Rule is divided into five parts. One is rule ac-
cording to law ; another is rule according to nature ; a third
kind is rule according to custom ; a fourth division is rule
with reference to family ; the fifth is rule by force. Now
when the rulers in cities are elected by the citizens, then they
rule according to law ; those who rule according to nature are
the males, not only among men, but also among all other
animals ; for everywhere we shall find it as a general rule that
the male rules the female; the rule of him who rules according
to custom is such as this, when sclioolmastei's nile their pupils,
and teachers their disciples. Rule according to family is that
which prevails in places like JjacedfL^mon, where hereditary
sovereigns reign. For the kingdom there belongs to a certain
family ; and in Macedonia they rule on the same principle.
For there, too, the kingdom depends on family. But those
who rule by force, only cajoling the citizens, rule in spite of
them ; and such a sway is called rule by force. So that there
is rule by law, and by nature, and by custom, and by family,
and by force.

LIX. Of rhetoric he speaks of six species. For when
orators exhort the people to make war upon or to form alliances
against any one, this species of oratory is called exhortation.
When they persuade the people not to make war, or to form
alliances, but to keep quiet, this kind of rhetoric is called
dissuasion. The third species of rhetoric, is when any one
says that he has been injured by some one else, and impeaches
that person as guilty of many crimes ; for this species is
called accusation. The fourth kind of rhetoric is called
defence, when a man shows that he has done no wrong, and
that he is not guilty of anything out of the way. Such a kind of
speech they call a defence. The fifth species of rhetoric, is
when any one q[»eaks well of another, and shows him to be
virtuous and honoiirable ; and this kind is called encomium.
The sixth species, is when any one shows that another person

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146 LIVES OF EMINENT PHILOSOPHEBS.

is worthless ; and this kind is called blame. So that rhetoric
is divided into encomium and blame, exhortation and dis-
suasion, aoensation and defence.

Speaking conectlj is divided under four- heads. One, the
saying what is right ; one, the saying as much as is right ;
thirdly, the saying it to the proper people ; and lourthlj, the
saying it at the proper time. Now as to the saying what is
light, that is the saying what will be advantageous both to the
speaker and to the hearer. The saying as much as is right,
is saying neither more nor less than whait is sufficient The
saying it to the proper people, is supposing one is speaking to
one's elders who are mistaken in any point, the using expres-
sions proper to be addressed to those older than one's self; or.
on the other hand, if one is addressing those younger, then the
using language such as is suitable to young people. The
saying it at the proper time, is speaking neither too soon nor
too late ; for if one does, one will err and speak improper^.

LX. Beneficence is divided under four heads. For it may
be exerted either in money, or by personal exertion, or by
knowledge, or by words. In money when any one assists
those who are in want, so as to put them at ease with respect
to money. And men benefit one another by personal ex-
ertion when they come upon those who are being beaten and
assist them. Ag^n, those who instruct, or heal, or who teach
any good thing, benefit others by their knowledge ; and when
one person comes down to the court of justice as an advocate
for another, and delivers some i^eech &11 of sense and good
feeling in his behalf, that man assists his friend by words.
So that there is one beneficence which is displayed in money,
another in personal exertion, a third by means of knowledge,
and the fourth kind by words.

LXI. Again* Plato divides the end of all affiiirs into four
species. An affiur has one end in accordance with law, when
a decree is passed, and when Hie law establishes it ; it has
an end hi accordance with nature, when it is such a tldng as a
day, or a year, or the seasons. It has an end according to art,
when it is arciiitecture for instance, for a man builds a bouse ;
or when it is ship>building, for it makes a ship. And affidn
also come to an end hy chance, when they turn out differently
from what any one expected. So that an end of an affidr is
regulated either by law, or by nature, or by art, or bj chance.

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LXII. Power again is divided into four species. Tliere is
one power which we possess bj our ability to reason and foinn
conceptions by means of our intellect. There is another
power which we owe to the body, such as the power of walking,
or giving, or taking, and such like. There is a third which
we possess through the multitude of soldiers or riches, on
which account a king is said to have gr^t power. And the
fourth division of power consists in the being well or ill tieated,
and treating othm well or ill ; as, for instance, we may be
sidE, or we may be taught, or we may be m vigorous healtb|
and many more cases of that sort. So that one kind of power
dwells in the intellect, another in the body, another in an
army and riches, and another in our capadly as agents or
patients.

LXIII. Of philanthropy there are three sorts. One which
is displayed in addressing people, when some persons address
every one whom they meet, and give them their right hand, and
greet them heartily ; another species is when one is disposed
to assist every one who is unfortunate. The last kind is that
sort of philanthropy which makes men pleasant boon com-
panions. So that there is one kind of philanthropy dis-
played in addressing people, another in benefiting them, and
a third in feasting and making merry with them.

LXI V. Happiness is divided into five parts. For one part
of it 18 wisdom in counsel ; another is a healthy condition of
the sensations and general health of body ; a third is good
fortune in one*s affiurs; a fourth kind is good reputation
among men ; a fifth is abundance of ikshes and of all those
things wludi are useful in life. Now wisdom in counsel arises
from good instmctioin, and firom a person's having experience
of many things. A healthy condition of the sensations de-
pends on &e limbs of the body ; as^ &r instance, when one
sees with one*8 eyes, and bears with one's ears, and smells
with one's nose, and fioels with c«ie*s body, just what one ought
to see, and hear, and smell, and feel. Such a condition as
this is a healthy condition. And good fortune is when a man
does rightly and successfully what a good and energetic man
ou^t to do* And good reputation is when a man is well
spoken ot And abundance of riches is when a man has such
a suffidem^ of everything which relates to the uses of life,
that he is able to benefit his Mends, and to discharge all

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public obligations in a splendid and liberal manner. And the
man y^ho has all these different parts of happiness, is a per-
fectly happy man. So that happiness is made up of wisdom
in counsel, a good condition of the sensations and health of
body, ^^ood fortune, good reputation, and riches.

LXV. The arts are divided into three kinds. The first,
the second, and the third. The first are tliose of working
mines and cutting wood, for these are preparatory arts. The
second are such as working metals and carpentrj% for they are
alterative arts. For working in metals makes arms out of
iron; and carpentry makes flutes and lyres out of wood. The
third is the art which makes use of instruments ; such as
horsemanship, which uses bridles; the military art, which uses
arms ; music, which uses flutes and lyres. So that there are
three species of art ; one of which is the first, another the
second, and another the third.

LXVL Good is divided into four kinds. One of which we
mean when we speak of a man endowed with private virtue,
as good ; another kind is that which we indicate, when we
call virtue and justice, good. A third kind is that which we
attribute to suiUible food, and e.xercise, and medicine. The
fourth good, is that which we mean, when we speak of good
flute playing, good acting, and things of that sort. There are
therefore four kinds of good. One the having virtue; another,
virtue itself; a third, useful food and exercise; and fourthly,
we call skill in flute playing and acting, good.

LXVII. Of things existing, some are bad, some good,
and some neither one thing nor the other. Of these, we
call those things bad, which are invariably capable of doing
injury, such as intemperance, folly, injustice, and things of
that sort. And the opj^osites to these qualities are good.
But those things, which may at times be beneficial, and at
times injurious, such as walking, sitting down, and eatin*^^ : or
which have absolutely no power in any case to beneht or
injure any one ; these are neither bad nor good. Of things
existing then, there are some bad, and some good, and some
of a neutral character, neither bad nor good.

LXVIII. A good state of affairs with reference to the laws,
is divided under three heads. One when the laws are good, for
that is a good state of afiairs ; so too is it, when the citizens
abide hj the existing laws ; and the third case is» when al-

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thoagh there are no positive laws, still men are good citizens
in diHetence to custom and to established institutions ; and
this is also called a good state of ailairs. So tliat of these
three heads, one depends on the laws being good, another on
obedience to existing laws, and the third on men yielding to
flood customs and institutions.

So again, lawlessness is divided into three heads. One of
which is, when the lavrs ace bad, both as concerns strangers,
and the citizens; another, when the citizens do not obey the
laws that are established ; and the third is when there is
actually no law at all. So that one kind of lawlessness arises
from bad laws, another from disobedience to existing laws,
and the third torn llie absence of laws.

LXIX* Contraries are of three sorts ; for instance, we say
that good is contrary to evil, as justice to iiyustice, wisdom to
folly, and so on. Again, some evils are contrary to others, as
extravagance is to stinginess, and the bemg tortured with
justice to the being tortured with injustice. And snch evils
as these are the contraries of other evils. Aflain, the heavy
is contrary to the light, the swift to the slow, the black to the
white ; so that some things which are of a neutral ehaiacter,
neither good nor evil, are contrary to other things of a neu-
tral character. Of contraries then, there are some which are
so, as what is good is contrary to what is evil ; others, as tnie
evil is contrary to another ; and others again, as neutral things
are contrary to other things of a neutral ehaiacter.

LXX. Of good things there are three kinds ; for there are
some which can be possessed ; others, which can be shared ;
others, which one realizes in one's self. Those which can be
possessed, are those ^Yllich it is possible for a person to have,
such as jusLice, or <j[oo(l health ; those can be shared, which it
is not possible for a person to have entirely to himself, but
which he may participate in ; as for mstaiice, a person cannot
be the sdle possessor of abstract good, l)ut he may participate
in it. Those again a person reahzes in himself, when they
are such, that he cannot possess them himself, or share them
with others, and yet they ought to exist ; as for instance, it
is good to be virtuous and just, but yet a man does not pos-
sess the being virtuous, or participate in it ; but the being
virtuous and just ought to exist in him. Of good things,
therefore, there are those which are possessed, those which are
shaied, and those which ought to exist in a man.

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LXXI. In the same maimer, flood eounsel is diyisible into
three kinds. For there is one kind which is derived from
past time, another fkom the fotore, another horn the present.
That which is derived from past time is made up of instances,
as for instance what the Lacedsmonians sdf ered hj trnsting to
such and snch people. That which relates to the present^is when
what is wanted, is to show that the fortifications are weak, the
men cowardly, or the pronrions scanly. Thatt which concerns
the fntore, is when the speaker mges lhat no injury ought to
be offered to ambassadors, in order that Greece may not get an
evil reputation; and supports his argument by instances* So
that good oouttsel has reference, firstly to what is past, secondfy
to what is present, and thirdly to the fhtore.

liXXII. Voice is divided into two parts, one of which is
animated, and the other inanimate. That is animated, which
proceeds from living animals,, while sounds and echoes are
inanimate. Again, animated voice may be divided into that
which can be indicated by letters, and that which cannot ;
that which can be so indicated being the voice of men, and
that which cannot being the voice of animals ; so that one
kind of voice is animated, the other inanimate.

LXXIII. Of existing things, some are divisible and some
indivisible. Again, those which are divisible, consist either
of similar or of dissimilar parts. Those which are indivisible
are such as have no separate parts, and are not formed bv any
combination, such as unity, a point, or a sound. But those are
divisible which are formed by some combination ; as, for
instance, syllables, and symphonies, and animals, and water,
and gold. . These too consist of similar parts, which are
made up of jyarticles resembling one another, and of which
the whole does not differ from any part, except in number.
As for instance, water and ^old, and everything which is
fusible, and so on. And these consist of dissimilar parts,
which are made up of various things not resembling one
another ; as for instance, a house, and things of that sort ; so
that of existing things, some are divisible and others indi-
visible. And of those which are divisible, some consist of
similar and others of dissimilar parts.

LXXIV. Again, of existing things, some are spoken of as
having an independent, and some only a relative existence.
Those which are spoken of as having an independent exist-

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151

ence, are those which require nothing eke to be added to
them, when we are explaining their natuxe ; as man, a hoise,
and the other animals; for these have no need of any
additional explanation. But those things are said to have a
relative existence which do require some additional explana-
tion. As for instance, that which is greater than something
else, or less, or swifter, or more beautiful, and so on. For
that which is greater, is greater than something which is less ;
and that which is swifter, is swifter than something else. So
that, of existing things, some are spoken of as independently,
«nd others relatively. And thus he divided them at first,
aoeording to Aristotle.

liXXV. There was also another man ci the name of Plato,
a philosopher of Bhodes, a disciple of FanoBtins, as Seleueus, the
grammarian says in the first book of his treatise on Philo-
sophy; and another was a Peripatetic, a pupU of Aristotle;
and there was a third, a pu]^ of Praxiphanes; and thm was
besides all these, the poet of the Old Comedy.

152

BOOK IV.

LIFE OF SPEUSIPPUS.

T. The long account which I have given of Plato was
compiled to the best of my power, and in it I collec ted with
great zeal and indubtry all that was reported of the man.

II. And he was succeeded by Speusippus, the son of
Eurymedon, and a citizen of Athens, of the Mynhinusian
burgh, and he was the son of Plato's sister Potone.

III. He presided over his school for eight years, beginning
to do so in the hundred and eighth olympiad. And he set
up images of the Graces in the temple of the Muses, which
liad been built in the Academy by Plato.

IV. And he always adhered to the doctrines which had
been adopted by Plato, though he was not of the same dis-
position as he. For he was a passionate man, and a slave to
pleasure. Accordingly, they say that he once in a rsge threw
a pnppy into a well ; and that for the sake of amusement, he
went all the way to Macedonia to the marriage of Cassander.

V. The female pupils of Plato, Lasthenea of Mantinea,
and Axiothea of Phlius, are said to have become disciples of
Speusippus also. And Dionysius, writing to him in a petulant
manner, says, And one may learn philosophy too ftom your
female disciple from Arcadia; moreover, Plato used to take
his pupils without exacting any fee from them ; but you collect
tribute from yours, whether willing or unwilling."

VI. He was the first man, as Diodorus relates in the first
book of his Commentaries, who inTestigpted in his school
what was common to the several sciences ; and who endeavoured,
as &r as possible, to maintain their connection with each other.
He was also the first who publi^ed those things which
Isocrates called secrets, as Cseneus tells us. And the first too
who found out how to make light badcets of hundles of twigs.

YII. But he became afflicted with paralysis, and sent to

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153

Xenocrates iuviting him to come to him, and to become lu3
successor in his school.

VIII. And they say that once, when he was being borne
in a carriage into the Academy, he met Diogenes, and said,
" Hail ;" and Diogenes replied, ** I mil not say hail to you,
"who, though in such a state as you are, endure to live.*'

IX. And at last in despair he put an end to his life, being
a man of a great age. Aud we have written this epigram ou
him

Had I not known Speusippus tliua had died.
No one woold haTe persuaded me that he

Was e'er akin to Plato ; who would never
Have died deepondiiig for bo alight a gpief.

But Plutarch, in his Life of Lysander, and again in his
Life of Sylla, says that he was kept in a state of constant
inflammation by lice. For he was of a weak habit of body, as
Timotheus relates in his treatise on Lives.

X. Speusippus said to a rich man who was in love with
an ugly ^volllan, " What do you want with her? 1 will find yoa
a much prettier woman for ten talents."

XT. He left behind liim a great number of commentaries,
and Muiny dialogues; among which was one on Aristippus ;
one on Kiches ; one on Pleasure ; one on Justice ; one on
Philosophy ; one on Friendship ; one on the Qoda ; one
called the Philosopher ; one addressed to Cephalus; one called
Cephalus ; one called Clinomachos, or Lysias ; one called the
Citizen ; one on the Soul ; one addressed to Gryllus ; one
called Aristippus ; one called the Test of Art There were
also Commentaries by way of dialogues ; one on Art ; and
ten about those things which axe alike in their treatment.
There are also books of divisions and arguments directed to
similar things ; Essays on the Genera and Species of
Examples ; an Essay addressed to Amartynus ; a Panegyric
on Plato ; Letters to Dion, and Dionysius, and Philip ; an
Essay on Legislation. There is also, the Mathematician ; the
Mandrobulus ; tlie Lysias ; Definitions ; and a series of
Commentaries. There are in all, forty-three thoasand £>ar
hundred and seventy-five lines.

Simonides dedicated to him the Histories, in which he had
related the actions of Dion and Bion. And in the second

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154 ' LIVES OF EmNENT FHIL0B0FHBB8.

Ibook of his Commentaries, Fhsmiims states lihat AiisMla
pordiased his books for three talents.

XII. There mm also another person of the name of Spea-
sinpus, a phjsidan of the school of Herophihis»* a natiTe of
Aiezandm.

LIFE OF X£NOGIUT£S.

I. Xenocrates was the sou of Agathcnor, and a native of
Chalcedon. L'roni his early youth he was a pupil o£ Pl&to,
and also accom})anied him in his voyages to Sicily.

II. He was by Dature of a lazy dispositiou, so that they say
that Plato said once, when comparing him to Aristotle,—
" The one requires the spur, and the other the bridle." And
on another occasion, he said, What a horse and what an ass
am I dressing opposite to ooie another!"

III. In odier respects Xenocrates was ahvays of a solemn
and grave chamcter, so that Plato was continually saying to
him, — Xenocrates, sacrifice to the Graces." And he spent
the greater part of his time in the Academy, and whenever he
was about to go into the city, thej say all the turbulent and
qnanelsome rahhle in the city used to make way for him to
pass hy. And once, Phryne tiie courtesan wished to try him
and pretending that she was pursued by some people, she
fled and took re§age in his house; and he admitted her indeed,
because of what was due to hamanitjr ; and as there was but
one bed in the room, he, at her entrea^, allowed her to share
it with him; hut at last, in spite of all her entreaties, she got up
and went away, without haying been ahle to succeed in her
purpose^ and told those who asked her, that she had quitted
a statue and not a man. But some say that the real stoxy is,
that his pupils put Lais into his hed, and Aat he was so con-
tineiit^ wbA he submitted to some seTere opeiations of excisiott
and caoteiy.

• Herophilus was one of the'most celebrated physiciana of antiquity,
who founded the Medioal School at Alexandria^ in the tame of the fint
Ptolemy.

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XENOCRATES.

155

IV. And he wbb a Teiy tmstworUij man ; so that, thoo^
it was not lawful for men to give evidence except on oath,
the Athenians made an exception in his &Tour alone.

v. He was also a man of the most contented disposition ;
aoooxdingly they say that when Alexander sent him a large
sum of money, he took three thotnand Attic drachmas, and
sent hack the zest, saying, that Alexander wanted most, as he
had the greatest nrnnher of months to Ised. And when some
was sent him Antipater, he would not accept any of it, as
Myomianus tells us in his SinuUtades. And once, when he
gained a golden czown, in a contest as to ^o could drink
most, which was offered in die yearly festival of the Choes
by Dionysius, he went out and placed the crown at the feet of ^
the statue of Mercury, which was at the gate, where he was
also accustomed to deposit his garlands of flowers. It is said
also, that he was once sent with some colleagues as an ambas-
sador to Philip ; and that they were won over by gifts, and
went to his banquets and convei"sed with Philip ; but that he
would do none of these tilings, nor could Philip propitiate
him by these means ; on which account, when the other am-
bassadors arrived in Athens, they said that Xenocrates had
gone with them to no purpose ; and the people were ready to
punish him ; but when they had learnt from him that they
had now more need than ever to loolt to the welfare of their
city, for that Philip had already bribed all their counsellors,
but that he had been unable to win him over by any means, then
they say that the people honoured him with redoubled honour.
They add also, that Philip said afterAvards, that Xenocrates
was the only one of those who had come to him who was in-
corruptible. And when he went as ambassador to Antipater
on the subject of the Athenian captives at the time of the
Samian war, and was invited by him to a banq^uet, he addressed
him in the following lines

I answer, GkxJdess human, is thy breast
By justioe sway'd, by tinder pity prert f

me, whose Mends are sunk to beorta,
To quaff thy bowls, or riot in thy feasts :
He would'st thou please, for them thy cares employ^
And them to me restore, and me to joy f*

* Horn. Od. z. 8S7. Pope's Version, 450.

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And Antipater, admiring the appzopiiateness of Uie quotatioD,
immediately released them.

VI. On one occasion, when a sparrow was pursued by' a
hawk, and flew into his bosom, he caressed it, and let it go
again, saying that we ought not to betray a suppliant. And
being ridiculed by Bion, he said that he would not answer
him, for that tragedy, when ridiculed by comedj, did not con*
descend to nuike a reply. To one who had never learnt music,
or geometry, or astronomy, but who wished to become his dis-
ciple, he said, Be gone, for you have not yet the handles of
philosophy." But some say that he said, Be gone, for I do not
card wool here." And when Dionysius said to Plato that some
one would cut off his head, he, being present, showed his
own, and said, ** Not before they haye cut off mine."

VIL They say too that once, when Antipater bad come to
Athens and saluted him, he would not make him any reply
before he had finished quietly the discourse which he was
delivering.

VIII. Being exceedingly devoid of every kind of pride, he
often used to meditate with himself several times a (my ; and
always allotted one hour of each day, it is said, to silence.

IX. And he left behind him a great number of writings,
and books of recommendation, and verses, which are these,—
six books on Natural Philosophy; six on Wisdom; one on
Eiches, the Arcadian; one .volume on the Indefinite; one on
a Child ; one on Temperance ; one on the Useful ; one on the
Free ; one on Death ; one on the Yoluntaty ; two on Friend-
ship; one on Courtesy; two on Contraries; two on Happi-
ness; one on Writing; one on Memory ; one on Falsehood;
the Callides one ; two on Prudence ; one on (Economy ; one
on Temperance ; one on the Power of Law ; one on PoUtical
Constitutions ; one on ^ely ; one to diow that Virtue may be
transmitted; one about the Existent; one on Fate; one on
the * Passions ; one on lives; one on Unanimity; two on
Pupils; one on Justice; two on Virtue; one on Species; two
on Pleasure ; one on life ; one on Manly Courage ; one on
The One; one on Ideas; one on Art; two on the Gods; two on
the Soul ; one on Knowledge ; one on the Statesman ; one on
Science ; one on Philosophy ; one on the School of Parme-
nides ; one the Archidemus; or an essay on Justice ; one on
the Good ; eight of those things which concern the LiteUect;

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XENOCRATES 157

ten essays in solution of the difficulties \\hich occur respecting
Orations ; six books on the study of Natural I'iiilosophy ; the
Principal, one ; one treatise on Genus and Species ; one on
the doctrines of the Pythagoreans ; two books of Solutions ;
seven of Divisions ; several volumes of Propositions ; several
also about the method of conducting Discussions. Besides all
this, there are one set of fifteen volumes, and another of sixteen,
on the subject of those studies which relate to Speaking;
nine more which treat of liatiocination ; six books on Mathe-
matics ; two more books on subjects connected with the Intel-
lect ; five books on Geometry ; one book of Keminiscences ;
one of Contraries ; one on Arithmetic ; one on the Contem-
plation of Numbers ; one on Intervals ; six on Asti'onomy ;
four of elementary suggestions to Alexander, on the subject of
Royal Power ; one addressed to Arybas ; one addressed to
Hephaestion ; two on Geometry ; seven books of Verses.

X. But the Athenians, though he was such a great man,
once sold him, because he w^as unable to pay the tax to which
the metics were liable. And Demetrius Phalereus purchased
him, and so assisted both parties, Xenocrates by giving him his
freedom, and the Athenians in respect of the tax upon
metics. This circumstance is mentioned by Myronianus of
Amastra, in the hist book of his chapters of Historical
Coincidences,

XI. He succeeded Spuesippus, and presided over the school
for twenty-five years, beginning at the archonship of Lysi-
machides, in the second year of the hundred and tenth olympiad.

XII. And he died in consequence of stumbUng by night
against a dish^ being more than eighty-two years of age*
And in one of our epigrams we speak thus of him

He struck against a braeen pot,

And cut Mb forehead deep,
And crying cruel is my lot^

In death he fell asleep.
So thus Xenocrates did fall,
The imivenaal friend of alL

XIII. And there were five other people of the name of
Xenocrates. One was an ancient tactician, a fellow citizen^ and
veiy near relation of the philosopher of whom we have been
speaking; and there is extant an oration of his which is
scribed. On Arsinoe, and which was written on the death of

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158

LIVES OF EMINENT PHILOSOPHERS

Arsinoe. A third was a philosopher who wrote some very in-
diti'crent elegiac poetry ; and that is uot strange, for when
poets take to writing in prose, they succeed pretty well ; hut
when prose writers try their hand at poetr}', they fail ; from
which it is plain, that the one is a gift of nature, and the other
a work of art. The fourth was a statuary ; the fifth a writer
of songs, as we are lold by Aristoxeuus.

LITE OF POLEMO.

I. PoLEMO was the son of Philostratus, an Athenian, of
the hurgh of ^a. And when he was young, he was so very in-
temperate and profligate, that he used always to carry money
ahout with him, to procure the instant gratification of his
passions ; and he used also to hide money in the narrow alleys,
for this purpose. And once there was found in the Academy a
piece of three obols, hidden against one of the columns, wliich
he had put there for some purpose like tliat which I have indi-
cated ; and on one occasion he arranged beforehand with some
young men, and rushed, adorned with a garland, and drunk,
into the school of Xenocrates. But he took no notice of him.
and continued his discoui*se as he had begun it, and it was in
praise of temperance ; and the young maia, heai'ing it, was
gradually charmed, and became so industrious, that he sur-
passed all the rest of the disciples, and himself became the
successor of Xenocrates, iuhis school begiimiug in the hundred
and sbcteenth olympiad.

II. And iVntigonus, of Carj^stus, says in his I^ives, that his
father had been the cliief man of the city, and had kept chariots
for the Olympic games.

III. He also asserts that Polemo was prosecuted by his
\^ife, on the charge of ill-treatment, because he indulged in
illicit pleasures, and despised her.

IV. But that when he began to devote himself to philo-
sophy, he adopted such a rigorous system of morals, that he fiat
the future always contmiied the same iaappeaxaiice, and never
even changed his voice, on wMdi account urantor was charmed
by him. Accordingly, on one occasion, when a dog was mad
and had bitten his leg, he was the only pezson who <Ud not torn

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159

pale ; and once, when there was a great oonfusion in the city,
he, having heard the cause, remained where he was mthout
fleeing. In the theatres too he was quite immoyeahle ; accord-
ingly, when Nicostrstus the poet, who was smnoamed Clytsem-
nestra, was once reading something to him and Crates, the
latter was excited to sympathy, he behaved as though he
heard nothing. And altogether, he was such as Melanthins,
the painter, describes in his treatise oa Painting ; for he says
that some kind of obstinacy and harshness ought to exist in
works of art as in morals.

And Polemo used to say that a man ought to exercise him-
self in action, and not in dialectic speculations, as if one had
druniL in and dwelt upon a harmonious kind of system of art,
so as to he admired for one^s shrewdness, in putting questions ;
but to be inconsistent with one's self in character. He was, then,
a well-bred and high-spirited man, avoiding what Aristophanes
says of Euripides, speeches of vinegar and assafostida, such as
he says himself:^

Are base delights compared with better things ?

V. And he did not use to lecture on the propositions before
him while sitting down ; but he would walk about, it is said,
and so discuss them. And he was mucli lionoured in the city
because of his noble sentiments ; and after lie had been walking
about, he would rest in his garden ; and his pupils erected little
cabins near it, and dwelt near his school and corridor.

VI. And as it seems, Polemo imitated Xenocrates in every-
thing ; and Aristippus, in the fourtli book of his treatise on
Ancient Luxury^ says that Xenocrates loved him ; at all events,
Polemo used to be always speaking of him, and praising his
guileless nature, and his rigorous virtues, and his chaste
severity, like that of a Doric building.

VTI. He was ' also very fond of Sophocles, and especially of
those passages wliere, according to one of the comic poets, he
seemed to have had a Molossian hontid for his colleague in
composing his poems; and when there was, to use the expression
of Phiynichus

UTo iweet or waahy liquor^ but ptuert Branuuan wiDa

And be used to say that Homer was an epic Sophocles, and
Sophodes a tragic Homer.
YIIL And he died when he was vety old, of dedine, having

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lAO LIYSS OF EMINENT PHIIiOSOPHEBS.

left behind him a great number of writings. And there is this
epigram of ours upon bim: —

Do you not hear, we've buried Polemo,
Whom aickueafl, worst aMctiou of inankind
Attacked, and bore off to the shades below ;
Yet Polemo lies not here, but Polemo's body^
And that he did himself place here on eaiiu,
Prepared in soul to mount up to the skies.

LIFE OF CRATES.

I. Crates was tlie son of Aiitigenes, and of the Thriasian
burgh, and a pupil and attiicbed friend of Polemo. He was
also his successor as president of his school.

II. And they benefited one another so much, that not only
did they delight while alive in the same pursuits, but almost
to their latest breath did thev resemble one another, and even
after they were both dead they shared the same tomb. In
reference to which circumstance Antagoras has written an
epigram on the pair, in which he expresses himself thus

; Stranger, who pasaest by, relate that here

The God-like Crates lies, and roleino ;
Two men of kindred uobleneBs of mind ;

Out of whose holy mouths pure wisdom flowed.
And they with upright lives did well display,

The strength of all their principles and teaching.

And they say too that it was in reference to this that Arcesi*
laus, when he came over to them from Theopbrastus, said that
they were some gods, or else a remnant of the golden race ;
for they were not Tory fond of courting the people, but had
a disposition in accordance with the saying of Dionysodoms
the flate player, who is reported to have said, with great exuita*
tion and pnde, that no one had ever heard his music in a
trireme or at a fountain as they had heard Ismenius.

Ill, Antigonus relates that he used to be a messmate of
Grantor, and that these phQosophers and AreesOaus lived to-
gether ; and that Arcesilaus lived in Grantor*8 bouse, but that
Polemo and Crates lived in the house of one of the citizens,

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161

named Ljsicles; and he says that CrateB ytbs, as T hare already
mentioned, gready attadhed to Polemo, and so waa Arcesilans

to Crantor.

IV. But when Crates died, as Apollodorus relates in the
third book of his Chronicles, he left behind him compositions,
some on philosophical subjects and some on comedy, and some
which were speeches addressed to assemblies of the people, or
delivered on the occasion of embassies.

V. He also left behind him some eminent disciples, among
whom were Axcesilaus, about whom we shall speek presently,
for he too was a pupil of his, and Bion of the Boiysthenes,
who was afterwards called a Theodorean, from the sect which
he espoused, and we shall speak of him immediately after
Arcewaus.

YI. But there were ten people of the name of Crates. The
first was a poet of the old comedy; the second was an* orator
of Tnilles, a pupil of Isocrates ; the third was an engineer who
served under Alexander ; the fourth a Cynic, whom we shall
mention hereafter; the fifth a Peripatetic philosopher; the
sixth the Academic philosopher, of whom we are speaking; the
seyenth a grammarian of Males ; the eighth a writer in geo-
metry ; the ninth an epigrammatic poet ; the tenth was an
Academic philosopher, a native of Tarsus.

LIFE OF CRAKTOR

I. CsAirroB, a native of Soli, being admired very greatly in
his own country, came to Athens and became a pupil of Xeno-
crates at the same time with Polemo.

XI. And he left behind him memorials, in the shape of
writings, to the number of 80,000 lines, some of which, how-
ever, are by some writers attributed to Arcesilaus.

III. They say of him that when he was asked what it was
that he was so charmed with in Poleroo, he replied, *' That he
had never heard him speak in too high or too low a key.**

IV. When he was ill he retired to the temple of iBscula-
pi us, and there walked about, and people came to him from all
quarters, thinkng that he had gone thither, not on account of

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162 LIVES OF SmNENT PHILOSOPHEB&

any disease, bat because he wished to establish a school
there.

V. And among those who came to him was Arcesilans, wish*
ing to be recommended by him to Polemo, although he was
much attached to htm, as we shall mention in the life of Arce-
sUans. But when he got well he became a pupil of Folemo,
and'was excessively admired on that account It is said, also,
that he left his property to Axcesilaus, to the amount of twelve
talents ; and that, being asked by him where he wonld like to
be buried, he said :—

It !• a liappy file to lie eutomlied
In tha roccwCB of a weU-loVd land*

VI. It is said also that he wrote poems, and that he sealed
them up in the temple of Minerva, in his own country ; and
Mesatetus the poet wrote thus about him

Grantor pleased men ; but greater pleaaove still

He to the Muses gave, ere he aged grew*
Earth, tenderly ein^»race the lioly man,
And let him lie iu quiet undLsturb'd.

And of all writers, Grantor admired Homer and Euripides
most ; saying that the hardest thing possible was to write tra-
gically and in a manner to excite sympathy, without departing
from nature ; and he nsed to qoote this Ime out of the Belle-
rophon : —

Alas 1 why shotild I say alas ! for we
Haye only borne the usual fiite of man.

The following yerses of Antagoras the poet aro also attri-
buted to Grantor ; the subject is love, and they run thus •

My mind is lauoh ])erplexed ; for what, 0 Love,
Dare 1 pronounce your origin ? May I
Gall yon chiefest <» the immortal Qoda,
Of all the children whom dark EIrebns
And Royal Night bore on the billowy waves
Of widest Ocean ? Or shall I bid you hail,
As son of proudest Venus ? or of Earth ?
Or of the imtamed winds f so fierce you rove,
Bringing mankind nd oai«8» yet not unmixed
With happy good, ao two-fold ii your nabua

And he was very ingenious at devising new words and ex-
pressions ; accordingly, he send that one trapjediaii liad an nn-
hewn (dcriXsx^jro;) voice, all over bark ; and he said thai ilie

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ABCESILAUB.

163

verses of a certain poet were full of moths ; and that the pro-
positions of Theophrastus had been written on an oyster shell.
But the work of his which is most admired is his book on
Mourning.

VII. And he died before Polemo and Crates, havin^r been
attacked by the dropsy ; and we have written this epigram on
him:—

The worst of sicknesBed liud ovtirwhelmed you,
O Chrantor, and you thus did quit the eartn,
Deacending to the dark abyss of Hell.
Now you are happy there ; but all the while
The sad Academy, and your native land
Of Soli mourn, bereaved of your eioi^uence.

LIFE OF ARGESILAUS.

I. Abcbsiiaus was the son of Seuthesor Scythes, as Apollo>
dorus states in the third book of his ChromcleB, and a native
of Pitane in JEolia.

II. He was the original founder of the Middle Academy, and
the first man who professed to suspend the declaration of his
judgment, because of the contrarieties of the reasons alleged
on eiliher side. He was likewise the first who attempted to
argne on both sides of a question, and who also made the
method of discussion, which had been handed down by Plato,
by means of question and answer, more contentious than
before.

III. He met with Grantor in ^be following manner. He
was one of four brothers, two by the same fiiUier and two by
the same mother. Of those who were by the same mother the
eldest was Pjlades, and of those by the same &ther iIia eldest
was Miereas, who was his guardian ; and at first he was a pupil
of Autolyeus the mathematician, who li^ppened to be a fellow
citizen of his before he went to Athens ; and with Autolyeus
he traveUed as fsur as Sardis. After that he becnose a pupil of
XanthuB the musician, and after that attended the lectures of
Theophrastus, and subsequently came over to the Academy to
Grantor. For Mnreaa ms brother, whom I have mentioned

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164 LIVES OF EMINENT PHILOSOPHEBS.

before, urged him to apply himself to rhetorir ; but he himself
had a preference for philosophy, and when he became much
attached to liira Grantor asked him, quotiug a line out of the
Andromeda of Euripides : —

0 virgin, if I save you, will you thank me ?

And he replied by quoting the next line to it : ^

O take me to you, stranger, as joixr da^e^
Or wife, or what you please.

And ever after that they became very intimate, so that they
say Tfaeophrastos was much annoyed, and said, **That a most
ingenions and well-disposed young man had deserted his
sc£ooL**

IV. For he was not only very impressive in his discourse,
and displayed a great deal of learning in it, but he also tried
his hand at poetry, and there is extant an epigram which is
attributed to him, addressed to Attains, which is as follows : —

Pergamns is not famed for anus alone,

But ofton hears its praise resoimd
For its fine horses, at the holy Pisa.

Yet, if a mortal mav declare,
Its ftte as MddoL in uie breast of Jove^

It wiU be fiunoDs for its woes.

There is another addressed to Menodorus the son of £uda-
muB, who was attached to one of his fellow pupils

Phrygia is a distant land, and so
Ib saoed Thyatira, and Cadanade,
Your country Menodorus. Bat hem all,

As the unvaried song of bards rdatefl^
An equal road does lie to Acheron,
That dark immentioned river ; so voii lie
Here far from home ; and here Eudamub raises'
This tomb above your bones, for be did love you,
Though you were poor, with an undoing lovei

But he admired Homer above all poets, and always used to
read a portion of his works before going to sleep ; and iu the
morning he would say that he was going to the object of his
love, when he was going to read him. He said, too, that
Pindar was a wonderful man for filling the voice, and pourii^

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ABOESUADS.

165

forth an abundant variety of words and expiessions. He also,
when he was a young man, wrote a criticism on Ion.

V. And he was a pupil likewise of Hipponicus, the geome*
trican, whom he used to ridicule on other points as being lazy
and gaping ; but he admitted that in his own profession he was
clear sighted enough, and said that geometcy had flown into
his mouth whfle he was yawning. And when he went out of ■
his mind, he took him to his own house, and took care oi him
till he recoYered his senses.

VI. And when Crates died, he succeeded him in the presi-
dency of his schools, a man of the name of Socrates willingly
yielcQng to him.

VII. And as he suspended his judgment on every pdnt, he
never, as it is said, wrote one single hwk. But others say that
he was once detected correcting some passages in a work of
his ; and some assert that he published it, while others deny it,
and afi&rm that he threw it into the fire.

YIII. He seems to have been a great admirer of Plato, and
he possessed all his writings. He also, according to some
authorities, had a very high opinion of Pyrrho.

IX. He also studied dialectics, and tlie discussions of the
Kretrian school ; on which account Aiiston said of him : —

first Plato comes, and Pyrrho last^
And in the middle Biodorua.

And Timon speaks thus of him : —

For having on this side tbo heavy load
Of Menedemus plac'd beneath his breast,
Hell to stoat iTrrho run, or Diodoroa.

And presently afterwards he represents him as saying :— -

ni Bwim to Pyrrho, or tluiit erooked flopliiit
CSalled BlodoniB.

X. He was exceedingly fond of employing axioms, very
concise in his diction, and when speaking he laid an emphasis
on each separate word.

XT. He wais also very fond of attacking others, and very
free spoken, on which account Timou iu another passage speaks
of him thus : —

You'll not ef?cape all notice while yon thus
Attack the youug man with your bitixig sarcasm.

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166 LIVES OF EMINENT PHILOSOPHERS.

Once* when a young raan was ar<,niiii<r against him with more
boldness than usual, he said, " Will no one stop his mouth
with the knout And to a man wlio lay under the general
imputation of low dehauchery, and who argued with him that
one thing was not greater than another, he asked him whether
a cup holding two pinta was not larger than one which held
only one. There was a certain Chian named Hemon, ex-
ceedingly ugly, but who fancied himself good looking, and
always went about in fine clothes ; this man asked him one
day, '* If he thought that a wise man could feel attachment to
him ; " " Why should he not," said he, when they love even
those who are less handsome than you, and not so well-dressed
either?" and when the man, tliough one of tlie vilest charac-
ters possible, said to Arcesilaus as if he were addressing a very
rigid man

0| noble man, may I a quMtioa pnl^
Or murt I liold my tongiief

Aioesilaos replied : —

0 wretched woman, why do you thus roughen
Your voice, not speaking in your usual manner?

And once, when he was plagued by a chattering fellow of low
extraction, he said: —

The 10118 of davM are always talking Tildy.t

Another time, when a talkative man was giving utterance to
a great deal of nonsense, he said, that ♦* He had not had a
nurse who was severe enoncrh." And to some people he never
gave any answer at all. On one occasion a usurer, who made
pretence to some learning, said in his hearing that he did not
know something or other, on which he rejoined : —

For often times the passing winds do fill

The female bird, ezeept when big with young;^

♦ Perhaps there is a pun here ; atrrpdyaXog means not Ollly a knottt
composed of small bones strung together, but also a die.

+ This ia a quotation from some lost play of Euripides, slightly
altered; the line, aa printed in the Yarioram Editkoi, yoL vtI, He.
Tiag. flini. ia ■■

dcAaffra 96vra ylvtrat, MXew Hkmi.
t There is a pnn here whieh ia nntranslatoable. The Gnek ia
arX^y lirap rixoe iraf§, meaning nauiy, and tiaoofBsjgxmg or delivery. ,

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ABCESILAUa

167

And the lines come out of the ^noraaus of Sophocles. He
once reminded a certiiin dialectician, a pupil of Aleximes, ■who
was unable to explain correctly some saying of his master, of
what had been done by Philoxenus to some brick-makers. For
when they were singing some of his songs very badly he came •
upon them, and trampled their bricks under foot, saying, " As
you spoil my works so will I spoil yours."

XII. And he used to be very indignant with those who
neglected proper opportunities of applying themselves to learn-
ing ; and he had a peculiar habit, while conversing, of using
the expression, " I think," and '* So and so," naming the per-
son, " will not agree to this.** And this was imitated by several
of his pupils, who copied also his style of expression and every-
thing about him. He was a man very ready at inventing new
words, and very quick nt meeting objections, and at bringing
round the conversation to the subject before him, and at adapt-
ing it to every occasion, and he was the most convincin*^
speaker that could be found, on which account numbers of
people flocked to his school, in spite of beinrr somewhat alarmed
at liis severity, which however they bore with complacency,
for he was a voy kind man, and one who inspired his hearers
with abundant hope, and in his manner of life )ie was very
affable and liberal, always ready to do any one a service with-
out any parade, and shrinking from any expression of gratitude
on tlie part of those whom he had obliged. Accordingly once,
when he had gone to visit Ctesibius who was ill, seeing him in
great distress from want, he secretly slipped his purse under
his pillow ; and when Ctesibius found it, " This," said he, " is
the amusement of Arcesilaus.*' And at another time he sent
him a thousand drachmas. He it was also who introduced
Aichias the Arcadian to Eumenes, and who prooured him many
fevours from him.

XIII. And being a yeiy Mberal man and utterly regardless
of money, he made the most splendid display of silver plate,
and in his exhibition of gold plate he vied with that of Arche-
crates and Callecratea ; and he was constantly assisting and
contributing to the wants of others with mcmey ; and once,
when some one had borrowed from him some articles of silver
plate to help him entertain his friends, and did not offer to re-
turn them, he never asked for them back or reclaimed them ;
bat some say that he lent them with the jnupose that they

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168 LIVES OF EMINENT PHILOSOPHERS.

should be ke2)t, and that when the man returned them, he
made him a present of them as he was a poor man. He had
also property in Pitana, the revenues irom which were tiauj^-
mitted to him by his brother Pylades.

XIV. Moreover, Eumenes, the son of Philetierus, supplied
him with many things, on which account he was the only
king to whom he addressed any of his discourses. And when
many philosophers paid court to Anti-^^jnus and went out to
meet him when he arrived, he himself kept quiet, not wishing
to make his acquaintance. But he was a great friend of
Hierocles, the governor of the harbours of Munychia and the
Piraeus ; and at festivals he always paid him a visit. And
when he constantly endeavoured to persuade him to pay his
respects to Antigonus, he would not ; but though he accom-
panied him as far as his gates, he turned back himself.
And after the sea-fight of Antigonus, when many people
went to him and wrote him letters to comfort him for his
defeat, he Beither went nor wrote ; but still in the service of
his country, he went to Demetrias as ambassador to Anti'
gonus, and succeeded in the object of his mission.

XV. And he spent all his time in the Academy, and avoided
meddling with public affairs, but at times he would spend
some days in the Piraeus of Athens, discoursing on philo-
sophical subjects, from his friendship for Hierocles, which
conduct of his gave rise to unfiavourable reports beiug raised
against him by some .people.

XVI. Being a man of very expensive habits, for he was in
ihis respect a sort of second Aristippus, he often went to dine
with his friends- He also lived openly with Theodote and
Philsete, two courtesans of El is ; and to those who reproached
him for this conduct, he used to quote the opinions of Aris-
tippus. He was also very fond of the society of young men,
and of a very affectionate disposition, on which account Aristi,
the Chian, a Stoic philosopher, used to accuse him of beinfj a
corrupter of the youth of the city, and a profligate man. He
is said also to have been greatly attached to Demetrius, who
sailed to Gyrene, and to Cleochares of Mydea, of whom he
said to his messmates, that he wished to open the door to him,
but that he prevented him.

XVII. Demochares the son of Laches, and Pythocles the
son of Bugelus, were also among his friends, and he said that

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ABOEEILAUS.

169

he humoured them in all their wishes hecause of his great
patience. And, on this account, those people to whom I
have hefore alluded, used to attack him and ridicule him as a
popularity hunter and vain-glorious man. And they set upon
him very violently at an entertainment given hy Hieronymus,
the Peripatetic, when he invited his friends on the birthday
of Alcymeus, the son of Antigouus, on vhich occasion Anti-
gonus sent him a large sum of money to promote the con-
viviality. On this occasion, as he avoided all discussion
during the continuiuice of the banquet, when Aridelus pro-
posed to him a question which required some deliberation, and
entreated him to discourse upon it, it m said that he replied,
** But this is more especially the business of philosophy, to
know the proper time for everything." With r^erence to the
charge that was brought against him of being a popularity
hunter, Timon speaks, among other matters, mentioning it
in the following manner:—

He apole and glided quick among the crowd.

They gazed on him as finches who behold

An owl among them. You then please the people I

Alas, poor fool, 'tia no great matter that ;

Why give yourself Bucli ain for such a trifle?

XVIII. However, in all other respects he was so free from
vanity, that he used to advise his pupils to become the dis-
ciples of other men ; and once, when a young man from Chios
was not satisfied with his school, but prefer^ that of Hiero-
nymus, whom I have mentioned before, he himself took him
and introduced him to that philosopher, recommending him
to preserve his regularity of conduct. And there is a very
witty saying of his recorded. For when some one asked him
once, why people left other schools to go to the Epicureans,
but no one left the Epicureans to join other sects, he replied,
" People sometimes nudce eunuchs of men, but no one can ever
make a man out of an eunuch."

XDL At last, when he was near his end, he left all his
property to his brother Fylades, because he, without the
knowledge of Mssreas, had taken him to Chios and had
brought him from thence to Athens. He never married a
wife, and never had any children. He made three copies of
his will, and deposited one in Erotria with Amphicritus, and

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170

LIVES OF EMINENT PHILOSOPHERS.

one at Athens with some of his friends, and the third he sent
to his uwij home to Thaumasias. one of his relations, en-
treating him to keep it. And he also wrote him the following
letter :—

AB0KBILAU8 TO THAUMASIAS.

"I have given Dio<^enes a copy of my \vill to ronvey to yon.
For, because 1 am frequently unwell and liave got very in-
firm, 1 have thought it right to make a will, that, if anything
should happen to me I might not depart with the feelmgs of
having done you any injury, who have been so constantly af-
fectionate to me. And as vou have been at all times the most
faitliful to me of all mj friends, I entreat you to preserve this
for me out of regard for my old age and your regard for me.
Take care then to behave justly towards me, remembering
how much I entrust to your int^prity, so that I may appear to
have managed my affiurs well, as far as depends on you; and
there is another copy of this will at Athens, in the care of
some of my friends, and another at £retria, in the bands of
Amphicritus."

XX, He died, as Hermippus relates, after having drunk an
ezceBSiTe quantity of wine, and then became delinous, when
he was seventy-five years old ; and he was more beloved by
the Athenians than any one else had ever been. And we have
written the following epigram on bim >

0 wise Arceiiilam}, why didst thou drink
So VABfe a quantity of immizedwinfl^

As to lose aU your smsea, and then die f

1 pity you not so mnch for your death,
As for the insult that you thus did offer
The Muses, by your sad excess in wiue.

XXI. There were also three other persons of the name of
Arcesilans ; one a poet of the old Gomeidy ; another an degiac
poet; the third a sculptor, on whom Simonides wrote the
ndlowing epigram

This is a statue of chaste Dian's self

The price two hundred Parian drachmas fine,

Stamp'd with the image of the wanton goat.

It If ilie work of wiae Aroenlaua,

The son of Aristodioos : a man,

Whole hands Minerva guided in his art

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171

Tlie philosopher of whom we have heen speaking flourished,
as Apollodonis tells us in bis ChronideB, about the himdred
and twentieth olympiad.

LIFE OF BION.

I. BiOK ms a nadye of the oountrr' around the Boiysthenes ;
but as to who hw parents were, ana to what circumstances it
was owing tbat be applied himself to the study of philosophy,
we know no more than what be himself told Antigonus. For
when Antigonus adced him

What art thou, say ! ft-om whence, from whom you came,
Who are your pairaiits? tcQ thy nee, thy name ;*

He,' knowing tliat he had been misrepresented to the king, said
to him, •* My fatlier was a freedman, who used to wipe his mouth
with his sleeve," (by which be meant tbat he used to sell salt
fish). As to bis raoOy be was a native of the district of the
Boiysthenes ; having no countenance, but only a brand in his
fuse, a token of the hitter cruelty of bis master. My mother
was such a woman as a man of that condition might marry,
taken out of a brothel. Then, my father being in arrears to
the tax-gathererB, was sold with all bis family, and with me
among them ; and as I was young and good looking, a certain
orator purchased me^ and when he died be left me everything.
And I, having burnt all bis books, and torn up all his papers,
came to Athens and applied myself to the study ^of Philo-
sophy : —

Such was my father, and from him I came,
The hmioured suihor of my birth and iiiiiie.f

This is all tbat I can tell you of myself: so that FersaBus
and Pbilonides may give up telling these stories about me :
and you may judge of me on my own merits.*'

♦ Horn. Od, X, 335. Pope's Version, 387.
*t Horn. 0.71211. Fope^s YenioDi, 254.

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LIVES OF EMINENT PHILOSOf UEES.

II. And Bion was truly a man of great versatility, and a
very subtle philosopher, and a man who gave all who chm)
great opportunities of practising philosophy. In some respects
he was of a gentle disposition, and very much inclined to
indulge in vanity.

III. And he left behind him many memorials of himself in
the way of writings, and also many apophthegms full of useful
sentiments. As for instance, once when he was reproved for
having failed to charm a young man, he replied, " You cannot
possibly draw up cheese with a hook before it has got hard."
On another occasion he was asked who was the most miserable
of men, and replied, " He who has set his heart on the greatest
prosperity." When he was asked whether it was advisable to
many (for this answer also is attributed to him), he replied.

If you marry an ugly woman you will have a punishment
(mn)), and if a handsome woman you will have one who is
common" (xoiv^). He called old age a port to shelter one
from misfortune : and accordingly, he said that every one fled
to it He said that glory was the mother of years ; that beauty
was a good which concerned others rather than one's self; that
riches were the sinews of business. To a man who had
squandered his estate he said, The earth swallowed up
Amphiaraus, but you have swallowed up the earth." Another
saying of his was that it was a great evil not to be able to bear
6^. And he condemned those who burnt the dead as though
they felt nothing, and then mocked them as though they did
feel. And he was always saying that it was better to put one's
own beauty at the disposal of another, than to covet the beauty
of others ; for that one who did so was ii\|uring both his body
and his soul. And he used to blame Socrates sapng, that if
he derived no advantage from Alcibiades he was foolish, and if
he never derived any advantage from him he then deserved
no credit. He used to say tiiat the way to the shades below
was easy ; and accordingly, that people went there with their
eyes shut. He used to blame Alcibiades, saying that while
he was a boy he seduced husbands fiK>m their wives, and
when he had become a young man he seduced the wives from
their husbands. While most of the Athenians at Bhodea
• practised rhetoric, he himself used to give lectures on philoso-
phical snljects ; and to one who blamed him for thia he said,
** I have bought wheat, and I sell barley.*'

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173

It was a saying of his that the inhabitants of the shades
below would be more punished if they carried water in buckf-ts
that were whole, than in such as were bored. To a chattering
fellow who was soliciting him for aid, he said, " I will do what
is sufficient for you, if you will send deputies to me, and
forbear to come yourself." Once when he was at sea in the
company of some wicked men, he fell into the hands of pirates;
and when the rest said, " We are undone, if we are known."
** But 1," said he, "am undone if we are not knoi^Ti." He
used to say that self-conceit was the enemy of progress. Of a
rich man who was mean and niggardly, he said, " That man
does not possess his estate, but his estate possesses him." Ha
used to say that sting}^ men took care of their property as if
it was their own, but derived no advantage from it as if it
belonged to other people. Another of his sayings was, that
young men ought to display courage, but that old men ought
to be distinguished for prudence. And that prudence was as
much superior to the other virtues as sight was to the other
senses. And that it was not right to speak of old age,
at which every one is desirous to arrive. To an envious
man who was looking gloomy* he said, "I know not whether it
is because some misfortune has happened to you, or some
good fortune to some one else.'* One thing that he used to
say was, that a mean extraction was a bad companion to
freedom of speech. For : —

It does enslave ft man, however bold

His Hpeech may be.*

And another was that we ought to keep our friends, what-
ever sort of people they may be, so that we may not seem
to have been intimate with wicked men, or to have abandoned
good men.

IV. Very early in his career he abandoned the school of the
Academy, and at the same time became a disciple of Crates.
Then he passed over to the sect of the Cynics, taking their
coarse dcMik and wallet. For what else could ever have
changed his nature into one of such apathy ? After that he
adopted the Theodorean principles, having become a disciple
of Theodorus the Atheist, who was used to employ every kind
of reasoning in support of his system of philosophy. After

* This is a quotation from the Hippolytus of Euripides, v. 424.

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174 LIVES OF EMINSNT FHILOSOPHSBa

leaving him, he became a pupil of Theophraatus, the Peripi^-

tetic.

V. He was very fond of theatrical entertainments, and rerj
skilful in distracting his hearers by exciting a laugh, giving
things disparaging names. And because he used to avail
himself of every species of reasoning, they rdate that Eretos-
thenes said that Bion was the first person who had dothed
philosophy in a flowery robe.

VI. He was also vexy ingenious in parodying passages, and
adi^tin^ them to circumstances as they arose. As for instance,
I may cite the following

Tender Archytaa, born of tuneful lyre,
Whom thoughts of happy vanity iuHj)ire ;
Host tkilkd of mortak in appealing ire,*

And he jested on eveiy part of music and geometry.

VII. He was a man of very expensive habits, and on this
aooount be need to go torn city to city, and at timea he would
contrive the most amazing devices.

VIII. Accordingly, in Rhodes, he persuaded the sailors to
put on the habiliments of pbilosopliical students and follow
him about ; and then he made himself conspicuous by entering
the gynmasium with this train of followen.

IX. He was accustomed also to adopt young men as his
sons^ in order to derive assistance from them in his pleasures,
and to be protected by their affection for him. But he was a
very selQsh man, and very fond of quotmg Hie saying, The
property of Mends is common owing to which it is that no
one is spoken of as a disciple of his, though so many men

* I doubt if the wit of these parodies will be appreciated by the
modem reader. The lines of Homer, which they are intended to
padrody, are: —

''Q fiOKap ArotUtif fiotpriytv^i;, dXfiuoSaiuutv. — //. 3, 182.
^1 9V nifXctoif, wdyrmv ixTayXArar* dvdpQv, — IL Y. 146.

The first of which is translated by Pope

Oh, blest Atrides, bom of prosperous fate,
SueeessM monardi of a mighty statel

The Qreek parody in the text is : —

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BION.

175

attended his school. And he made some very shameless ;
accordingly, Betion, one of his intimate acquaintances, is
reported to have said once to Menedemus, '* So Menedemus
constantly spends the evening with Bion, and I see no harm
in it." He used also to talk with great impiety to those who
conversed with him, having derived his opinions on this
subject from Theodorus.

X. And when at a later period he became afflicted with
disease, as the people of Chalcis said, for he died there, he was
persuaded to we;ir amulets and charms, and to show his
repentance for the insults that he had offered to tlie Gods.
But he suffered fearfully for want of proper people to attend
him, until Antigonus sent him two servants. And he followed
him in a litter, as Pharorinus relates in his Universal History,
And the circumstances of his death we have ouiselTes spoken
of ia the following lines

We bear that Bion the Borysthenite,
Whom the ferocious Scythian land "brought fortbi
Used to deny that there were Gods at all.
Now, if he'd persevered lu thia opinion,
One would have flaid he Bpeaki just as he thinks ;
Though certainly his thoughts are quite mistaken.
But when a lengthened sickness overtook him.
And he began to fear lest he should die ;
This man who heretofore denied the Gods,
And would not even look upon a temple,
And modced all those who e'er approached the Gods
With prayer or sacrifice ; who ne'er, not even
For hia own hearth, and home, and household table^
Regaled the Gods with savoury fat and incense,
Who never once said, " I have sinned, but spare me.**
Then did this atheist shrink, and gire his netdc
To an old woman to hang charmfl upon,
And bound his arms vnth. magic amulets,
AVith laurel branches blocked his doors and windowfl^
Heady to do and venture anything
Rather than die. Fool that ne wm> who thoui^
T ) \vin the Gods to come into etistence,
Whenever he might think he wanted them.
So wise too late, M-hen now mere dust and ashei^
He put his hand forth. Hail, gr^t Pluto, Hul 1
f

XI. There were ten people of the name of Bion* Fbet of
an, the one who flourished at the same time with Pherecydes
of Syros, and who has left two hooks behind him, which are

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176 LIVES OF EMINENT PHILOSOPHERS.

still extant; he was a native of Proconnesas. The second
was a Syracusan, the author of a system of rhetoric. The
third was the man of whom we have heen speaking. The
fourth was a pupil of Democritus, and a mathematician, a
native of Ahdera, who wrote in both the Attic and Ionic
dialect. He was the person who first asserted that <there
were countries where there w h night for six months, and day
for six months. The fifth was a native of Soli ; who wrote a
history of ^Ethiopia. The sixth was a rhetorician, who has
left behind him nine books, inscribed with the names of the
Muses, which are still extant. The eighth was a Milesian
statuary, who is mentioned by Polemo. The ninth was a
tragic poet of the number of those who are called Tarsicans,
The teutli was a statuary^ a native of Clazomense or Chios, who
is mentioned by Hipponaz.

LIFE OF LACYDES.

I. XiACYDES, the son of Alexander, was a native of Gyrene.
He it is who was the founder of the New Academy, having
succeeded Arcesilaus ; and he was a man of great gravity of
character and demeanour, and one who had many imitators.

II. He was industrious from his yeiy childhood, and poor,
but very pleasing and sociable in his manners.

III. They say that he had a pleasant way of managing his
house-keeping affairs. For when he had taken anything out
of his store-chest, he would seal it up again, and throw in his
seal through the hole, so that it should be impossible for any-
thing of what he had laid up there to be stolen from him, or
carried off. But his servants learning this contrivance of
his, broke the seal, and carried off as much as they pleased,
and then they put the ring back through the hole in the same
manner as before ; and though they Sad this repeatedly, they
were neyer detected.

IV. Lacydes now used to hold bis school in the Academy in
the garden which had been laid out by Attains the king,
and it was called the Lacjdeum, after him. And he was the

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177

only man, who, v^hile alive, resigiied his school to a succeflflor ;
but he resigned thia to Telicles and Evander, of Phocis ; and
Hegesinus, of Pergamus, succeeded Evander; and he himself
was in his turn succeeded by Garueades.

V. There is a witty saying, which is attributed to Lfieydes.
For they say that when Attains sent for him, he answered
that statues ought to be seen at a distance. On another
occasion, as it is reported, he was studying geometry very late
in life, and some said to him, " Is it then a time for you to be
learning now ?" If it is not^" he replied, " when will it be ?"

VI, And he died in the fourth year of the hundred and
thirty-fourth Olympiad, when he had presided over his school
twenty-six years. And his death was caused by paralysis,
which was brought on by drinking. And we ourselves haTO
jested upon him in the following language.

*Tis an odd story that I heard of you —
Lacydes, that you went with hasty steps,
Spurred on by Bacchus, to the shades below.
How then, if this be troe, eaa it be said,
That BacchuH e'er trips up big votaiiea^ feet
'Tig a miikike hia being named Lymu.*

LIFE OF CARNEADES,

I. Carnf.ades was the son of Epicomus, or Philocomus, as
Alexander stales in his Successions ; and a native of Cyrene.

II. He read all the hooks of the Stoics with great caie,
and especially those of Chrysippus ; and tlien he wrote replies
to tViem, but did it at the same time with such modesty that
he used to say, If Chrysippus had not lived, I should never
have existed."

III. He was a man of as great industry as ever existed :
not, however, very much devoted to the investigation of suhject<»
of natural philosophy, but more fond of the discussion of ethicol
topics, on which account he used to let his hair and his nails
grow, from his entire devotion of all his time to philosophical

. * From X^w, 9ok9, to relax or wceten tiie. UsaSm,

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178 , UVE8 OF EHINEHT FHHiOBOPHEBS.

discussioo. And he was so eminent as a philosopher, that
the orators would quit their om schools and come and listen

to his lectures.

lY. He was also a man of a veiy powerful voice, so that
the president of the G}innasium sent to him once, to desire he
would not shout so loudly. And he replied, Give me then,
measure for my voice.'* And the gymnasiarch again r^oined
with great wit, for he said, **Tou have a measure in your pupils.**

V. He was a very vehement speaker, and one difficult to
contend with in the investigation of a point. And he used to
decline all invitations to entertainments, for the reasons I
have ahready mentioned.

VI. On one occasion, when Mentor, the Bithynian, one
of his pupils, came to him to attend his school, observing
that he was trying to seduce his mistress (as Phavorinus
relates in his Universal History), while he was in the middle
of his lecture, he made the following parody in allusion to

A weak old mnn comes hither, like in voice,
And gait, and figure, to the jimdent Mentor *
I order h'\rr\ to be expelled thia scliooL

And Mentor rising up, replied : —

Thus did they speak, and straight the otioers rose.

VIL He appears to have been beset with fears of death ; .
as he was continually saying, Nature, who has put this frame
together, will also dioBolve it** And learning that Antipater had
died after having talien poison, he felt a desire to imitate the
boldness of his departure, and said, " Give me some too.**
And when tliey asked "What?** "Some mead," said he.
And it is said that an eclipse of the moon happened when he
died, the most heautiful of all the stars, next to the sun, in-
dicating (iis any one might say) its sympathy with the philo-
sopher. And Apollodorus, in his Chronicles, says that he
died in the fourth year of the hundred and sixty-second oljiii-
piad, heing eighty-five years old.

VIII. There are some letters ext«int addressed l»y him to
Ariarathes, the king of the Cappadocians. All the other
writin<rs which are attrihuted to him were written bv his
disciples, for he himself left nothing behind him. And I

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OLITOM^CHUS.

179

have written on him the following lines in logosdical Axche-
bulian metre.

Why now, 0 Muse, do you wish me Cameades to confute ?

He was an ignoramnB, as he did not undentand

Why he should stand in fear of death : so onoe^ when h«'d a ooogh.

The worst of all diseases that affect the human frame^

He cared not for a remedy ; but when the news did reach him.
That brave Autipater had ta'en some poison, and ko died,
" Give me, said he, some stuii to drink." " Some what V — " Some lus-
cious mead.**

Moreover, he'd this saying at all times upon his lips :

" Natiire did- make me, and she does together keep me still ;
But soon the time will come when she will pull me all to pieoes."
But still at last he yielded up the ghost : though long ago
He might have died, and so escaped the evils that befell him.

IX. It is said that at night he was not aware when lights were
brought in ; and that once he ordered his servant to light the
candles, and when he had hrought them in and told him, " I
have brought them;" "Well Uien," said he, "read bj the
light of them."

X. He had a great many other disciples; but the most
eminent of them was Clitomaehus, whom we must mention
presently.

XI. There was also another man of the name of Cameades,
a very indiffiarent elegiac poet.

LIFE OF CLITOMACHUS.

I. CuTOMACHUs was a Carthaginian. lie was called .
Asdrubal, and used to lecture on philosophy in his own country
in his native language.

II. But when he came to Athens, at the age of forty years,
he became a pupil of Cameades ; and, as he was pleased with
his industry, he caused him to be instructed in literature,
and himself educated the man carefully. And lie caD'ied liis
diligence to such a degree, that he composed more than four
hundred books.

III. And he succeeded Cameades in his schools ; and he
illustrated his principles a great deal by his writings : as he

K 2

t.ldO LIVES OF ElUNENT PHILOSOPHERS

himself had studied the doctrines of their sects, the Academic,
the Peripatetic, and the Stoic. Timon attacks the whole school
of Academios, as a body, in these lines

Nor the unprofitable chatteiixig
Of all the Academics.

But now that we have gone through the philosophers of
. Plato*s school, let ns go to. the Peripatetics, who also derived
their doctrines from, Plato ; and the founder of their sect was
Aristotle.
•

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181

BOOK V.

LIFE OF ARISTOTLE. ^ '

I. Aristotle was the son of Nicomachus and Pliaestias, a
citizen of Stagira ; and Nicomachus was descended from
Nicomachus, the son of Miichaon, the son of u'Esculapius, as
Hermippus tells us in his treatise on Aristotle ; and he lived
with Amyntas, the king of the Macedonians, as both a
physician and a friend.

II. He was the most eminent of all the pupils of Plato ; he
had a lisping voice, as is asserted hy Timotheus tlie Athenian,
in his work on Lives. He had also very thin legs, they say,
and small eyes ; but he used to indulge in very conspicuous
dress, and rings, and used to dress his Imir carefully.

III. lie had also a son named IS' icomachua» by Herpyllis
* his concubine, as we are told bv Timotheus.

TV. He seceded from Plato while he was still alive ; so
that they tell a story that he said, " Aristotle has kicked us off
just as chickens do their mother after they have been hatched.'*
But Hermippus says in his Lives, that while he was absent on
an embafisy to Philip, on behalf of the Athenians, Xdnocrates
became the president of the scho(d in tlie Academy ; and
when he returned and saw the school under the presidency of
some one else, he selected a promenade in the Lyceum, in
which he used to walk up and down with his disciples, dis-
cussing subjects of philosophy till the time for anointing
themselves came ; on which account he was called a Peripa-
tetic* But others say that he got this name because once
when Alexander was walking about after recoYering from a
sickness, he accompanied him and kept conversing with him.
But when his pupils became numerous, he then gave them
. seats, saying:—

It would be shame for me to hold my p^aca^

And for Isocratea to keep on talking. ^

* IVom vf(i«raHft% ''to walk abou^*

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182 LIVBS OF EMINENT PHILOSOPHERS.

And lie used to accustom his disciples to discuss any
question which might be proposed, training them just as au
orator might.

V. After that he went to Hermias the Eunuch, the tyrant
of Atarneus, who, as it is said, allowed him all kinds of
liberties ; and some sav that he formed a matriniuniul conuec-
tion with him, giving him either his daughter or his niece in
marriage, as is recorded by Demetrius of Magnesia, in his
essay on Poets and Prose-writers of the same name. And the
same autliority says that Hermias had been the slave of
Eubulus, and a Bithynian by descent, and that he slew his
master. But Aristippus, in the fii*st book of his treatise on
Ancient Luxury, says that Aristotle was enamoured of thf^
concubine of Hermias, ami that, as Hermias gave his consent,
he married her ; and was so overjoyed that he sacrificed to
her, as the Athenians do to the Eleusinian Ceres. And he
"wrote a hymn to Hermias, which is given at length below.

VI. After that he lived in Macedonia, at the court of
Philip, and was entrusted by him with his son Alexander as a
pupil ; and he entreated him to restore his native city which
had been destroyed by Philip, and had his request granted ;
and he also made laws for the citizens. And also he used to
make laws in his schools, doing this in imitation of Xeno-
crates, so that he appointed a president every ten days. And
when he thought that he had spent time enough with Alex-
ander, he departed for Athens, having recommended to him
his relation Callisthenes, a nadye of Olynthus ; but as he
spoke too freely to the hsng, and would not take Aiistotle's
advice, he reproached him and said

Alas 1 mj ohildi in life's pximeyal Uooniy !
Sncli baBty words wQl hnng thee to thj doom.*

And his prophecy was fulfilled, for as he was believed bv
Hermolaus to have been privy to tlie plot against Alexander,
he was shut up in an iron cage, eovered with lice, and untended ;
aud at last he was given to a lion, and so died,

VII. Aristotle then having come to Athens, and having
presided over his school there for thirteen years, retired
secretly to Chalcis, as Eurymedon, the hierophant had im-
peached him on an indictment for impiety, though Pharorinus,

♦ H 18, 90.

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ABISTOTLE.

183

in his Universal Ilistoiy, says that his prosecutor was Demo-
phelus, on the groniid of having written the hymn to the
beforementioned Hermias, and also the following epigram
which was engraven on his statue at Delphi

The tyrant of the Persian archer race,
I Broke through the laws of God to day this man ;

Not by the manly spear in open fight,
But by the treachery of a faitbleea friend.

And after that he died of taking a draught of aconite, as
Eumelus says in the fifth book of his Histories, at the age of
seventy years. And the same author says that he was tliirty
years old when he first became acquainted with Plato. But
this is a mistake of his, for he did only live in reality sixty-
three years, and he was seventeen years old when he first
attached himself to Plato. And the hymn in honour of
Hermias is as follows

0 Yirtae, won by earnest strife,
And holding out the noblest prise

That ever gilded earthly life,

Or drew it on to seek the skiea ; ^
For thee what son of Greece would not
Deem it an enviable lot,
To live the life, to die the death,
That fisars no weary hour, ahi^iks from no fieiy breath f

Such fruit hast thou of heavenly bloom,
A lure more rich than golden heap,
^ More tempting than the joys of home,

More bland than spell uf sofb-^ed aleqpu
For thee Alcides, son of Jove,
And the twin boys of Leda strove,
With patient toil and sinewy might.
Thy glorious prise to grasp, to readi thy lofty height

Achilles, Ajax, for thy love

Descended to the realms of night ;
Atameui^ King thy vision drove,

To quit for aye the glad sun-light,
Therefore, to memory's daughters dear.
His deatlilesa uame, his pure career,
Live shrined in song, and liuk'd with awe,
The awe of Xenian Jove, and fidtlidhil friendship's law.*

* This very spirited version I owe to the kindness of my brother,
the Bev. J. B. Tonge^ of Bton College.

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184 UV£S OF £MIN£NT PHIJU)80PHSB&

There is also an epigram of ours upon him, which nms
thus: —

Euzymedoiit ihe fidthfol miiuBter
Of die myaterious Eleusinlan Queen,

Was once about t* impeach the Stagirite
Of impious guilt. But he escaped liis hanoUl
By mighty draught of friendly aconite,
And thus defeated all his wicked arte.

Pharorinus, in his Thiiversal History, says that Aristotle was
the first person who ever composed a speech to be deliverr^d
in his own defence in a court of justice, ai^d that he did so ou
the occasion of this prosecution, and said that at Athens : —

Pean upen pear-ireea grow ; on fig^tieee, figcL

Apollodorus, in bis C lirouicles, says that he was bom in the
first year of the ninety-ninth olympiad, and that he attached
himself to Plato, and remained with him for twenty years,
having been seventeen years of age when he originally joined
him. And he went to Mitylene in tbc arclionsbip of Eubulus,
in the fourth year of tlie hundred and eighth olynipiad. But
as Plato had died in the fii^t year of this same olyujpiad, in
the archonship of Theopliilus, he departed for the court of
Hermias, and remained there three years. And in the archon-
ship of Pythodotus he went to the court of Philip, in the
second year of the hundred and ninth olympiad, when
Alexander was fifteen years old ; and he came to Athens in
the second year of the hundred and eleventh olympiad, and
presided over his school in the Lyceum for thirteen yeai's ;
after that he departed to Chalcis, in the third year of the
hundred and fourteenth olympiad^ and died, at about the age
of sixty-three years, of disease, the same year that Demosthenes
died in Oalumia, in the archonship of Philocles.

VIIL It is said also that he was offended with the king,
because of the result of the conspiracy of Calisthenes against
Alexander ; and that the king, for the sake of annoying him»
promoted Anaximenes to honour, and sent presents to Xeno-
crates. And Theocritus, of Chios, wrote an epigram upon him
to ridicule him, in the following terms, as it is quoted by
Ambryon in bis aceomit of Theocritus :—

The empty-headed Aristotle raised

This empty tomb to Hennias the Emmch,

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1B5

The ancient slave of the ill-us'd EubuluB.

[Who, for his monstrous appetite, preferred

The Bospliorus to Academia's groves.] *.

And Timon attacked him too, saying of him -

Nor the sad chattering of the empty Aristotle, . '

Such was the life of the philosopher.

IX. We have also met with his will, ^rhich is couched in
the following terms May things turn out well ; but if any
thing happens to him, in that case Aristotle has made the
following disposition of his afiaixs. That Antipater shall be
the general and umversal executor. And until Nicanor marries
my daughter, I appoint Aristomedes, Timarohus, Hipparchus,
Dioteies, and Theophrastos, if he will consent and accept the
charge, to be the guardians of my children and of Herpyllis,
and the trustees of all the property I leave behind me ; and I
desire them, when my daughter is old enough, to give her in
marriage to Nicanor ; but if any tiling should happen to the
girl, which m;iy Hod forbid, either before or after she is mar-
ried, but before she has any children, then I will that Nicanor
shall have the absolute disposal of my son, and of all other
things^ in the full confidence that he will arrange them in a
manner worthy of me and of himself. Let him also be the
guardian of my daughter and son Nicomadius, to act as he
pleases with respect to them, as if he were their father or
brother. But if anything should happen to Nicanor, which
may God forbid, either before he receives my daughter in
marriage, or after he is married to her, or before he has any
children by her, then any arrangements which he may make
by will shall stand. But, if Tbeophzastus, in this case, ebsmid
choose to take my daughter in marriage, then he is to stand
exactly in the same position as Nicanor. And if not, then I
will, that my trustees, consulting vrith Antipater concerning
both the boy and girl, shall arrange erveiytfaing respecting them,
as they shfdl think fit ; and that my trustees and Nicanar^
remembering both me and Herpyllis, and how well she has
behaved to me, shall take eare, if she be inclined to take a
husband, that one be found for her who shall not be unworthy
of us ; and shall give her, in addition to all that has been
already given her, a talent of silver, and three mmdservants
if she please to accept them, and the handmaid 'whom she has

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180 LIV£S OF EMINENT PHILOSOPUJBBSL

now, and the boy Pyrrhaeus. And if she likes to dwell at
Ohalcis, she shall liave the house which joins the garden ; hut
if she likes to dwell in Stagira, then she shall have my father's
house. And whichever of these houses she elects to take, T
will that my executors do funiisb it with all necessary furniture,
in such manner as shall seem to them and to Herpyllis to be
sufficient. And let Nicanor be the guardian of the child
Myrmex, so that he shall be coiiduLted to his friends in a
manner worthy of us, with all his property which I received.
I also will tliat Aubracis shall have her liberty, and that there
shall be given to her when her daughter is mamed, five
hundred drachmas, and the handmaid whom she now has.
And I will that there be given to Thales, besides the hand-
maiden whom she now has, who was bought for her, a
thousand drachmas and another handmaid. And to Timon, in
addition to the money that has been given to him before for
another boy, an additional slave, or a sum of money which shall
be equivalent. I also will that Tychon shall have his liberty
when his daughter is married, and Phil on, and Olympius, and
his son. Moreover, of those boys who wait upon me, I will
that none shall he sold, but my executors may use them, and
when they are grown up then they shall emancipate them if
they deserve it. I desire too, that my executors will take
under their care the statues which it has been entrusted to
Gryllion to make, that when they are made they may be
erected in their proper places ; and so too shall the statues of
Nicanor, and of Proxenus, which I was intending to give him
a commission for, and also that of the mother of Nicanor. I
wish them also to erect in its proper place the statue of
Arinmestos which is already made, that it may be a memorial
of her, since she has died childless. I wish them also to
dedicate a statue of my mother to Geres at Nemea, or where-
ever else they think fit. And wherever they bury me, there
I desure that they shall also place the bones of Pythias, having
taken them up from the place where they now lie, as she
herself enjoined. And I desue that Nicanor, as he has been
preserved, will perform the tow which I made on his behalf,
and dedicate some figures of animals in stone, four cubits high,
to Jupiter the saviour, and Minerva the saviour, in Stagira."

These are the provisions of his will.

X. And it is ssid that a great many dishes were found in

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ARISTOTLE. 1B7

his house ; and that Lycon stated that he used to bathe in a
bath of warm oil, and afterwards to sell the oil. But some
say that he used to place a leather bag of warm oil on his
stomach. And whenever he went to bed, he used to take a
brazen ball in his hand, having arrannred a brazen dish below
it ; so that, when the ball fell into the dish»he might be awakened
by the noise.

XI. The following admirable apophthegms are attributed to
him.

He was once asked, what those who tell lies gain by it ;
" They gain this," said he, " that when they speak truth they
are not believed."

On one occasion he was blamed for giving alms to a worth-
less man, and he replied, I did not pity the man, but his
condition,*'

He was acenstomed continually to say to his friends and
pupils wherever he happened to be, " That sight receives the
light from the air which surrounds it, and in like manner the
«oul receives the light from the science."

Very often, when he was inveighing against the Athenians,
he would say that they had invented both wheat and laws, but
that they used only the wheat and neglected the laws.

It was a saying of his that the toots of education were bitter,
but the fruit sweet.

Once he w as asked what grew old most speedily, and he re-
plied, " Gratitude."

On another occasion the question was put to him, what
hope is? and his answer was, ''The dream of a waking man."

Diogenes once offered him a dry fig, and as he conjectured
that if he did not take it the cynic had a witticism ready pre-
pared, he accepted it, and then said that Diogenes had lost his
joke and his fig too ; and another time when he ^k one from
him as he offered it, he held it up as a child does, and said,
''0 great Diogenes ; ** and then he gave it to him hack again.

He used to say that there were three things necessary to
education ; natural qualifications, instruction, and practice.

Having heard that he was abused by some one, he said.

He may beat me too, if he likes, in my absence.*'

He used to say that beauty is the b^t of all recommenda*
tions, but others say that it was Diogenes who gave this de-
scription of it ; and that Aristotle called beauty, " The gift of

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183 LiVEd OF EMINENT PHILOSOPHERS.

a fair appearance : ** that Socrates called it "A short-lived
tyranny ; " Plato, *' The privilege of nature ; " Theophrastus,
** A silent deceit;" Theocritus, "An ivory mischief ; " Car-
neades, " A sovereignty wliicii stood in need of no guards.**

On one occasion he was asked how much educated men
were superior to those uneducated ; Aa much," said he, ai
the living are to the dead.*'

It was a saying of his that education was an ornament in
prosperity, and a refuge in adversity. And that those parentb"
who gave their children a good education deserved more honour
than those who merely beget them : for that the latter only
enabled tht ir children to live, but the former gave them the
power of living well.

When a man boasted in his presence that he was a native
of an illustrious city, he said, " That is not what on/a ought to
looi^ at, but whether one is worthy of a great city."

He was once asked what a friend is ; and is answer was,
*' One soul abiding in two bodies."

It was a saying of his that some men were as stingy as if
they expected to Hve for ever, and some aa extravagant as if
they expected to die immediately.

When he was asked why people like to spend a great deal
of their time with ^andsome people, " That," said he^ is a
question fit for a blind man to ask.'*

The question was onoe put to him, what he had gained by
philosophy ; and the answer he made was this, ** That I do
without being commanded, what others do from fear of the
laws/*

He was once asked what his disciples ought to do to get on ;
and he replied, ** Press on upon those who are in front of
them, and not wait for those who are behind to catch them."

A chattering fellow, who had been abusing him, said to
him, " Have not I been jeering yon properly ? ** Not that I
know of," said he, ** for I have not been listening to you.*'

A man on one occasion reproached him for having given a
oontributioQ to one who was not a good man (for the story
which I have mentioned b^ore is also quoted in this way),
and his answer was, I gave not to the man, bnt to humanity.**

The question was once put to him, how we ought to behave
to our friends; and the answer he gave. was, ** As we should
wish our friends to behave to ns.'*

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ABISTOTLE. 189

He used to define justice as " A virtue of the soul distribu**
tiye of wbat each person desenred.**

Another of his sayings ma^ that education was the best
TOtacum £>r old affe.

Pharorinus, in me second book of his Oommentaxies, says
that he was constantly repeating, ** The inan who has fiiends
has no friend.'* And this sentiment is to be found a]so in the
seventh book of the Ethics*

These apophtliegms then are attributed to him.

XII. He also wrote a great number of works ; and I have
thought it worth while to give a list of them, on account
of the eminence of their antfaiHr in eveiy branch of philo-
sophy. Four books on Justice ; three books on Poets ; three
books on Philosophy ; two books of The Statesman ; one on
Rhetoric, called also the Gryllus ; the Nerinthus, one ; the
Sophist, one; the Menexenus, one; the Erotic, one; the
Banquet, one ; on Riches, one ; the Exhortation, one ; on the -
Soul, one ; on Prayer, one ; on Nobility of Birth, one ; ou
Pleasure, one ; the Alexjuider, ur an Essay on Colonists, one ;
on Sovereignty, one ; ou Education, one ; on the Good, three ;
three books ou tilings in the Laws of Plato ; two on Political
Constitutions ; on Economy, one ; on Friendship, one ; on
Suffering, or having Suffered, one ; on Sciences, one ; on Dis-
cussions, two ; Solutions of Disputed Points, two ; Sophistical
Divisions, four ; on Contraries, one ; on Species and Genera,
one ; on Property, one ; Epicheirematic, or Argumentative
Commentaries, three ; Propositions relating to Virtue, three ;
Objections, one ; one book on things which are spoken of in
various ways, or a Preliminary Essay ; one on the Passion of
Anger ; five on Ethics ; three on Elements ; one on Science ;
one on Beginning ;' seventeen on Divisions ; on Divisible
Things, one ; two books of Questions and Answers ; two on
Motion ; one book of Propositions ; four of Contentious Pro-
positions ; one of Syllogisms ; eight of the Eirst Analytics ;
two of the second greater Analytics : one on Problems ; eight .
on Method ; one on the Better ; one on the Idea ; Definitions
serving as a preamble to the Topics, seven ; two books more
of Syllogisms ; one of Syllogisms and Definitions ; one on
what is Eligible, and on ^vliat is Suitable ; the Preface to the
Topics, one ; Topics relating to the Definitions, two ; one
ou the J?assioiis ; oae ou Divisions ; one ou Mathematics ;

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LIVES OF EICINENT FHJLOSOFHEBa

thirteen books of Defimtioiis; two of Epicheiremata, or
Arguments ; one on Pleasure ; one of Propositions ; on the
Voluntaiy, one ; on the Honourable, one ; of Epicheirematic
or Argumentative Propositions, twenty-five books ; of Anutoiy
Propositions, four ; of Propositions relating to Friendship, two ;
of Propositions rdating to the Soul, one ; on Politics, two ;
Politi(»l Lectures, such as that of Theophrastus, eight ; on
Just Actions, two; two books entitled, A Collection of Arts;
two on the Art of Rhetoric : one on Art ; two on otiier Art ;
one on Method ; one, the Introduction to the Art of Theo-
dectes ; two books, being a treatise on the Art of Poetry ;
one book of Rhetorical Enthymemes on Magnitude ; one of
Divisions of Enthymemes ; on Style, two ; on Advice, one ;
oil Collection, two ; on Nature, three ; on Natural Philosophy,
one ; on the Philosophy of Archytas, three ; on the Philoso|)hy
of Speusippus and Xenocrates, one ; on things taken from the
doctrines of Timieus and the school of Archytas, one ; on
Doctrines of Melissus, one ; on Doctrines of Alcmaeon, one ;
on the Pythagoreans, one ; on the Precepts of Gorgias, one ;
on the Precepts of Xenophanes, one ; on the Precepts of
Zeno, one ; on the Pythagoreans, one ; on Animals, nine ;
on Anatomy, eight ; one book, a Selection of Anatomical
(,)uestions ; one on Compound Animals ; one on Mythological
Animals ; one on Impotence ; one on Plants ; one on Physi-
ognomy ; two on Medicine : one on the Unit ; one on Signs
of Storms ; one on Astronomy ; one on Optics ; one on
Motion ; one on Music ; one on ^Memory ; six on Doubts
connected with Homer ; one on Poetry ; thiity-eight of
Natural Philosophy in reference to the First Elements; two
of Problems Resolved; two of Encyclica, or (ieneral Know-
ledge ; one on Mechanics ; two consisting of Problems derived
from the writings of Democritus ; one on Stone ; one book of
Comparisons; twelve hooks of Miscellanies; fourteen books
of things explained according to their Genus ; one on Rights ;
one book, the Conquerors at the Olympic Games ; one, the
Conquerors at the Pythian Games in the Art of Music ; one,
the Pythian ; one, a List of the Yictor^^ in the Pythian
Games; one, the Victories gained at the Olympic Games;
one on Tragedies ; one, a List of Plays ; one book of
IVoverbs ; one on the Laws of llecommendations ; four hooks
of Laws ; one of Categories ; one on Interpretation ; a book

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191

containing an account of the Constitutions of a Imudred and
fifty-eight cities, and also some uuiividual democratic, oligarchic,
aristocratic, and tyranrical Constitutions ; i.etters to Philip :
Letters of the Selymbrians ; four Lettei*s to xUexander ; nine
to Antipater ; one to Mentor ; one to Ariston ; one to
Olympias ; one to Hephoestion ; one to Themistagoras ; one
to Philoxenus ; one to Democritus ; one book of Poems,
begiimiug

Hail ! holy, Bacredy distant-Bliootiiig Gkid.
A book of Elegies which begins: —

Daughter of all-accomplish'd mother.

The whole consisting of four hundred and forty-fire thousand
two hundred and seventy Hues.

XTTT. These then are the books which were written hy him.
And in them he expresses the following opinions : — that there
is in philosophy a two-fold division; one practical, and the other
theoretical. Again, the practical is divided into ethical and
political, under which last head are comprised considerations
affecting not only the state, but also the management, of a
single house. The theoretical part, too, is subdivided into
physics and logic ; the latter forming not a single division,
turning on one special point, hut being rather an instrument
for every art brought to a high degree of accuracy. And he
has laid down two separate objects as what it is conversant
about, the persuasive and the true. And he has used two
means with reference to each end; dialectics and rhetoric, with
reference to pei*suasion; analytical examination and philosophy,
with reference to truth ; omitting nothing which can bear
upon discovciy, or judgment, or use. Accordingly, with re-
ference to discovery, he has furnished us with topics and
works on method, which form a complete armoury of propo-
sitions, from which it is easy to provide one's self with an
<»hundance of probable arguments for every kind of question.
•Vnd ydth reference to judgment, he has given us the former
and posterior analytics; and by means of the former ana-
lytics, we may ainTe at a critical examination of principles ;
by means of the posterior, we may examine the conclusions
which are deduced from them. With reference to the use or
application of his rules, he has given us works on discussion.

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UV£S OF £MXN£NT PSUiOSOPHEBS.

on question, on disputation, on sophiBtical refatation, on
syllogism, and on things of tbat sort.

He has also furnished us with a double criterion of truth.
One, on the perception of those effects, which are according
to imagination ; the other, the intelligence of those things
which are ethical, and which concern politics, and economy,
and laws. The chief good he has defined to be the exercise
of virtue in a perfect life. He vised also to say, that happi-
ness was a thing made up of tliree kinds of goods. First of
all, the goods of the soul, which he also calls the principal
goods in respect of their power ; secondly, the goods of the
body, such as health, strength, beauty, and things of
that sort; thirdly, external goods, such as wealth, nobility of
birth, glory, and things like those. And he taught that virtue
was not sufficient of itself to confer happiness ; for that it
had need besides of the goods of the body, and of the
extenial goods, for that a wise man would be miserable if he
were sun'ounded by distress, and poverty, and circumstances
of that kind. But, on tlio other hand, he said, that vice was
sufl&cient of itself to cause unhappiness, even if the goods of
.the body and the external goods were present in the greatest
possible degree. He also asserted that the virtues did not
reciprocally follow one another, for that it was possible for a
prudent, and just, and impartial man, to be incontinent and
' intemperate ; and he said, that the wise man ivas not des-
titute of passions, but endowed witli moderate passions.

He also used to define friendship as an equality of mutual
benevolence. And he divided it into the friendship of kindred,
and of love, and of those connected by ties of hospitality.
And he said« that love was divided into sensual and philo-
sophical love. And that the wise man would feel the influence
of love, and would occupy himself in ai&irs of state, and
.would marry a wife, and would live with a king. And as
there were three kinds of life, the speculative, the praclical,
and the voluptuous, he preferred the speculative. He also
considered the acquisition of general knowledge serviceable to
the acquisition of virtue. As a natural philosopher, he was
the most ingenious man that ever lived in tracing effects back
to their causes, so that he could explain the principles of the
most trifling circumstances; on which account he wrote a great
many hooka of commentaries on physical questions.

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198

He used to teach that God was inoorporeaL as Plato also

asserted, and that his providence extends over all the heavenly
hodies ; also, that he is incapahle of motion. And that he
governs all things upon eaith with reference to their sympathv
with the heavenly bodies. Another of his doctrines was, that
besides the four elements there is one other, making the fifth,
of which all the heavenly bodies are composed ; and that this
one possesses a motion peculiar to itself, for it is a circular
one. That the soul is incorporeal, being the first iVT^Xs^ua ;
for it is the syreXsyjia of a physical and organic body, having
an existence in consequence of a capacity for existence. And
this is, according to him, of a twofold nature. By the word
svrsXe^tia, he means something which has an incoporeal species,
either in capacity, as a figure of Mercury in wax, which has a
capacity for assuming any shape; or a statue in brass ; and so the
perfection of the Mercury or of the statue is called svrsXsx^ta,
with reference to its habit. But when he speaks of the svts-
Xi^sia* of a natural body, he does so because, of bodies some are
wrought by the hands, as for instance, those which are made by
artists, for instance, a tower, or a ship ; and some exist by
nature, as the bodies of plants and animals. He has also
used the term with reference to an organic body, that is to
say, with reference to something that is made, as the faculty
of sight for seeing, or the fticulty of hearing for the purpose of
hearing. The capacity of having life must exist in the thing
itself. But the capacity is twofold, eitlier in habit or in
operation. In operation, as a man, when awake, is said to have
a soul ; in habit, as the same is said of a man when asleep.
That, therefore, he may come under his dehnition, he has
added the word capacity.

He has also given other definitions on a great many sub-
jects, which it would be tedious to enumerate here. For he
was in every thing a man of the greatest industry and inge-
nuity, as is plain from all his works which I have lately
given a list of; which are in number nearly four hundred, the
genuineness of which is undoubted. There are, also, a great

* ** IvrtXkxi^ia, the aetutUty of a Hhiag, m opposed to simple capability
or 'potentiality (S^vafuc) ; a philosophic word invented by Aristotle. —
• . . . quite distinct fh>m iv^fXIX<Mi, though Cicero (TuaOL i 10,)
ooofouided them."— -lb JhS,m voe,

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104 LIVES OP BMimiT PHIL0B0FHEB8.

many other irorks attributed to bim, and a number of apoph-
thegms which be never committed to paper.

XIV. There were eight persona of the xiame of Aristotle,
first of all, the philosopher of whom we bare been speaking ;
the second was an Athenian statesman, some of whose forensic
orations, of great elegance, are still extant ; the third was a
man who wrote a treatise on the Iliad ; the fourth, a Siciliot
orator, who wrote a reply to the Panegyric of Isocrates ; the
filth was the man who was sumamed Myth, a friend of
^'Eschiues, the pupil of Socrates ; the sixth was a Cyronean,
who wrote a treatise on I^oetry ; the seventh was a school-
master, who is mentioned by Aristoxciius in liis Lile of Plato ;
the eighth, was an obscui'e grammaxian, to whoiu a treatise on
Pleonasm is attributed.

XV. And the Stagirite had many friends, the must emi-
nent of whom was Theophrastus, whom we must proceed to
speak of.

LIFE OF THEOPHPu^STUS.

I. Theophrastus was a native of Eresus, the son of Me-
lanlas, a fuller, as we are told by Athenodorus in the eighth
book of his Philosophical Conversations.

II. He Avas originally a pupil of Leucippus, his fellow
citizen, in his own country ; and subsequently, after bavin ft
attended the lectures of Plato, he went over to Aristotle. And
when he withdrew to Chalcis, he succeeded liini as president
of his school, in the hundred and fourteenth olympiad.

III. It is also said that a slave of his, by name Pomphylus,
was a philosopher, as we are told by Myronianus of Amastra,
in the first book of Similar Historical Chapters.

IV. Theophrastus was a man of great acuteness and in-
dustry, and, as Pamphila asserts in the thirty- second book of
his Commentaries, he was the tutor of Menandar, the comic
poet* He was also a most benevolent man, and very affable.

V. Accordinf?lv, Cassander received him as a friend ; and
Ptolemy sent to invite him to his court. And he was thnncjht
80 vezy highly of at Athens, that when Agonides ventured to

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, TBEC^HBASTUa.

195

impeach him on a charge of impiety, hd was very nearly fined
for his hardihood. And there thronged to his school a crowd
of disciples to the number of two thousand. In his letter to
Phanias, the Peripatetic, among other subjects he speaks of
the court of justioe in the following terms : *' It is not only
out of the question to find an assembly (wavnyv^ig), but it is
not easy to find even a comply {cund^m) such as one would
like ; but yet redtations produce corrections of the judgment.
And my age does not allow me to put off everything and to feel
indifierenoe on such a subject/* In this letter he speaks of
himself as one who devotes his whole leisure to learning.

And though he was of this diq)osition, he nevertheless went
away for a short time, both he and all the rest of the philo«
sophers, in consequence of Sophocles, the son of Amphi*.
dides, having brought forward and carried a law that ao one
of the philosophers should preside over a school unless the
council and the people had pfueed a lesolution.to sanction thdr
doing so, if they did, death was to be the penalty. But they
returned again the next year, when Philion had impeached
Sophodes for illegal conduct; when the Athenians abrogated
his law, and fined Sophodes five talents, and voted that the
phibsophers should have leave to return, that Theophrastus
might return and preside over his school as before.

YI. His name had originally been Tyrtanius, but Anstotle
dianged it to Theophraatus, fnm the divine character of his
eloquence.*

Vll. He is said also to have been very mudi attached to
Aristotle's son, Nicomachus, although he was his master ; at
least, this is stated by Aristippus in the fourth book of Igs
treatise on the Andent Luxury.

YIII. It is also rdated that Aristotle used the same
expression about him and Galfisthenes, which Plato, as I
have previously mentioned, employed about Xenocrates and
Aristotle himself. For he is reported to have said, since
Theophrastus was a man of extraordinary acuteness, who
could both comprehend and explain everything, and as the
other was somewhat slow in his natural character, that Theo-
phrastus required ii bridle, and Callisthenes a spur.

IX. it is said, too, that he had a garden of his own after

* From OiioQ divine, and ^pdais dicticaL

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196 LIVES OF SMINSNT PHILOSOPH£BS.

the death of Aristotle, by the assistance of Demetrius Phale-
rius, vtho was an intimate fidend of his.

X. The following very practical apophthegms of his are
quoted. He used to say that it was better to trust to a horse
without a bridle than to a discourse without arrangement.
And once, when a man preserved a strict silence during the
whole of a banquet, he said to him, If you are an ignorant
man, you are acting wisely : but if you have had any education,
you are behaving like a fool." And a very favourite expression
of his was, that time was the most valuable thing that a man
oould spend.

XI. He died when he was of a great age, having lived
eighty-five years, when he had only rested from his labours a
short time. And we have composed the following epigram
on him

The proverb then is not completely false,
That wiBdoni'a bow unbent is quickly broken ;
While ThtiophrastuB laboured^ he kept sound,
When he rdazed, he lost his strengtib and died.

They say that on one occasion, when dying, he was asked by
his disciples whether he had any charge to give them ; and he
replied, that he had none but that they ^ould remember
that life holds oat many pleasing deceits to us by the vanity
of glory ; for that when we are beginning to live, then we are
dying. There is, therefore, nothing more profitless than am-
bition. But may you all be fortunate, and either abandon
philosophy (for it is a great labour), or else dmg to it dili-
gently, for tiien the credit of it is great ; but the vanities of
life exceed the advantage of it. However, it is not requisite
for me now to advise you what you should do ; but do yon
yourselves consider what line of conduct to adopt.** And
when he had said this, as report goes, he expired. And the
*Atfieiiians accompanied him to the grave, on foot, with the
iHiole population of the city, as it is related, honouring the
man greatly.

XII. But Pharorinus says, that when he was vezy old he
used to go about in a litter ; and that Hermippus states this,
quoting Arcesilaus, the PitansBan, and the aeooont which he
sent to Lacydes of Cyrene.

XIII. He also left behind him a veiy great number of

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107

works, of which I have thought it proper to give a list on
account of their being full of eveiy sort of ezcelleuce. Thej*

are as follows : —

Three books of the First Analytics ; seven of the Second
Anal3^tics ; one book of the Analysis of Syllogisms ; one book,
an Epitome of Analytics ; two books, Topics for referring
things to i'irst Principles ; one book, an Examination of
Speculative Questions about Discussions; one on Sensations;
one addressed to Anaxagoras ; one on the Doctrines of Anaxa-
goras ; one on the Doctrines of Anaximenes ; one on the
Doctrines of Archelaus ; one on Salt, Nitre, and Alum ; two
on Petrifactions ; one on Indivisible Lines ; two on Hearing ;
one on Words : one on the Differences between Virtues ; one
on Kingly Power ; one on the Education of a King ; tliree
on Lives ; one ou Old Age ; one on the Astronomical System
of Democritus ; one on Meteorology ; one on Images or
Phantoms ; one on Juices, Complexions, and Flesh ; one on
the Description of the World ; one on Men ; one, a Collection
of the Sayings of Diogenes ; three books of Definitions ; one
treatise on Love ; another treatise on Love ; one book on
Happiness ; two books on Species ; on Epilepsy, one ; on
Enthusiasm, one ; on Empedocles, one ; eighteen books of
Epicheiremes ; three books of Objections ; one book on the
Voluntary; two books, being an Abridgment of Plato's Polity;
one on the Difference of the Voices of Similar Animals ; one
on Sudden Appearances; one on Animals which Bite or
Sting ; one on such Animals as are said to be Jealous ; one
on those which live on Dry Land ; one on those which Change
their Colour ; one on those which live in Holes ; seven on
Animals in General ; one on Pleasure according to the Defi-
nition of Aristotle ; seventy-four books of Propositions ; one
treatise on Hot and Cold ; one essay on Giddiness and Ver-
tigo and Sudden Dimness of Sight ; one on Perspiration ; one
on Affirmation and Denial ; the Callisthenes, or an essay on
Mourning, one ; on Labours, one ; on Motion, three ; on Stones,
one ; on Pestilences, one ; on Fainting Fits, one ; the M&-
ganc Philosopher, one ; on Melancholy, one ; on Mines, two ;
on Honey, one ; a collection of the Doctrines of Metrodorus,
one ; two books on those Philosophers who have treated of
Meteorology ; on Drunkenness, one ; twenty-four books of
Laws, in alphabetical order ; ten books, being an Abridgment

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198 LIVES OF EMINENT PHILOSOPHERS.

of Laws ; one on Definitions ; one on Smells : one on Wine
£«and Oil ; eighteen books of Primary Propositions ; three
books on Lawprivers ; six books of Political Disquisitions :
a treatise on Politicals, with reference to occasions as they
arise, four books ; four books of Political Customs ; on the
best Constitution, one ; fiTe books of a Collection of Pro-
blems; on Proverbs, one; on Concretion and Liquefaction,
one; on Fire, two; on Spirits, one; on Paralysis, one; on
Suffocation, one ; on Aberration of Intellect, one ; on the
Passions, one ; on Signs, one ; two books of Sophisms ; one
on the Solution of Syllogisms ; two books of Topics ; two
on Punishment ; one on Hair ; one on Tyranny ; three
on Water ; one on Sleep and Dreams ; three on Friendship ;
two on Liberality ; three on Nature ; eighteen on Question s
of Natural Philosophy; two books, being an Abridgment
of Natural Philosophy; eight mote books on Natural Phi-
losophy ; one treatise addressed to Natoral Philosophers ;
two books on the History of Plants; eight books on
the Causes of Plants; five on Juices; one on Mistaken
Pleasures ; one, Investigation of a proposition conoerning the
Soul; one on Unskilfully Adduced Proofs; one on Smiple
Doubts; one on Harmonics; one on Virtue; one entitled
Occasions or Contradictions ; one on Denial ; one on Opinion ;
one on tiie. Bidiculous; two called Soirees; two books of
Divisions ; one on Dii&rences ; one on Acts of Injustice ;
one on GalusuDij ; one on Praise ; one on Skill; three books
of Epistles; one on Self-produced Animals; one on Selec-
tion ; one entitled the Praises of the Gods ; one on Fes-
tivals; one on Good Eortune; one on Enthymemes; one
on Liventions; one on Moral Schools; one book of Moral
Charaeteis; one treatise on Tumult; one on £bstoiy; one
on the Judgment Concenung Syllogisms; one on Flatteiy;
one on the Sea ; one essay, addressed to Casssnder, Concern-
ing Kingly Power ; one on Comedy ; one on Metecws ; one on
Style ; one book called a Collection of Sayings ; one book of
Solutions ; ihree books on Music ; one on Metres ; the Me-
gades, one ; on Laws, one ; on Violations of Law, one ; a
ooUection of the Sayings and Doctrines of Xenocrates, one ;
one book of ConTersations ; on an Oath, one; one of Ora-
torical Precepts ; one onBiches; one on Poetry; one being
a coUection of Political, Ethical, Physical, and amatory

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Problems; one book of Proverbs; one book, being a Col*
lection of General Problems ; one on Problems in Natural
Philosophy; one on Example ; one on Proposition and Expo-
sition ; a second treatise on Poetry ; one on the Wise Men ;
one on Counsel ; one on Solecisms ; one on Rhetorical Art,
a collection of sixty-one figures of Oratorical Art ; one book on
Hypocrisy ; six books of a Commentary of Aristotle or Tlieo-
phrastus ; sixteen books of Opinions on Natural Philosophy ;
one book, being an Abridgment of Opinions on Natural Phi-
losophy ; one on (iratitude ; one called Moral Characters ; one
on Truth and Falsehood; six on tlie History of Divine Things;
three on the Gods ; four on the History^ of Geometry ; six
books, being an Abridgment of the work of Aristotle on
Animals ; two books of Epicheiremes ; three books of Propo-
sitions ; two on Kingly Power ; one on Causes ; one on De-
mocritus ; one on Calumny; one on Generation ; one on the
Intellect and Moral Character of Animals ; two on Motion ;
four on Sight ; two on Definitions ; one on being given in
IVIarriage ; one on the Greater and the Less ; one on Music ;
one on Divine Happiness ; one addressed to the Philosophers
of the Academy ; one Exhortatory Treatise ; one discussing
how a City may be best Governed ; one called Commentaries ;
one on the Crater of Mount Etna in Sicily ; one on Admitted
Facts; one on Problems in Natm:^ Natural History; one.
What are the Different Manners of Acquiring Knowledge ;
three on Telling Lies ; one book, which is a preface to the
Topics ; one addressed to JEschylus ; six books of a Histoiy
of Astronomy ; one book of the History of Arithmetic relating
tx> Increasing Numbers; one called the Acicharus; one on
Judicial Discourses ; one on Calunmj ; one volume of Lettan
to Astyceron, Phanias, and Nicanor ; one book on Piety ; one
called the Evias ; one on Circumstances ; one volume entitled
Familiar Conversations ; one on the Education of Cbildien ;
another on the same subject, discussed in a dififerent manner;
one on EdnoatioD, called also, a treatise on Virtue, or on
Temperance ; one book of Exhortations ; one on Numbers ;
one confliatiiig of Pefinitions referring to the Enunciation of
Syllogisms : one on Heaven; two on Politics; two on Nature, on
Fruits, and on Animals. And these works contain in all two
hundred and thirty-two thousand nine hundred and eight lines.
These, then, aze the hooka which Theophrastua composed.

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XIV. I have also found his will, which is drawn up in the

following terms : —

May things turn out well, but if anything should happen to
me, I make the following disposition of my property. I give
everything that I have in my liouse to Melantes and Pan-
creon, the sons of Leon. And those things which have been
given to me by Hipparchus, I wish to be disposed of in the
following manner: — First of all, I wish everything about the
Museum* and the statue of the goddesses to be made perfect,
and to be adorned in a still more beautiful manner than at
present, wherein there is room for improvement. Then I
desire the statue of Aristotle to be placed in the temple, and
all the other offerings which were in the temple before. Then
I desire the colonnade which used to be near the Museum to
be rebuilt in a manner not inferior to the previous one. I
also enjoin my executors to put up the tablets on which the
maps of the earth are drawn, in the lower colonnade, and to
take care that an altar is finished in such a manner that
nothing may be wanting to its perfectness or its beauty. I
also direct a statue of Nicomachus, of equal size, to be erected
at the same time ; and the price for making the statue has
been already paid to Praxiteles ; and he is to contribute what
is wanting for the expense. And I desire that it shall be placed
wherever it shall seem best to those who have the charge of pro-
viding for the execution of the other injunctions conU\ined in
this will. And these are my orders respecting tlie temple
and the offerings. The estate which I have at StAgira, I give
to Callinus, and all my books I bequeath to Nelens. My
garden, and my promenade, and my houses which join the
garden, I give all of them to any of the friends whose names I
set down below, who choose to liold a school in them and to
devote themselves to the study of pliilosophy, since it is not
possible for any one to be always travelling, but I give them
on condition that they are not to alienate them, and that no
one is to claim them as his own private property ; but they
are to use them in common as if they were sacred ground,
sharing them with one another in a kiiulrefl and friendly
spirit, as is reasonable and just. And those who are to have
this joint property iu them are Hipparchus, Neleus, Strato, Cal-
loDus, Demotimus, Demaratus, GaLlisthenes, Melantes, Pan-

* Thii WM a iemplB of tiie Miuas whidi hn htA bnUt for a lohooL

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creon, and Nicippus. And Aristotle, the son of Metrodoras
and Pythias, shall also be entitled to a share in this property,
if he likes to join these men in the study of philosophy. And
I beg the older men to pay great attention to his education
that he may be led on to philosophy as much as possible. I
ilso desire my executors to bury me in whatever part of the
garden shall appear most suitable, incurring no superfluous
expense about my funeral or monument. And, as has been
said before, after the proper honours have been paid to me»
and after provision has been made for the execution of my
vnll as &r as relates to the temple, and the monument, and
the garden, and the promenade, then I enjoin that Pam-
phylus, who dwells in me garden, shall keep it and everything
else in the same condition as it has been in hitherto. And
those who are in possession of these things are to take care of
his interests. I further bequeath to Pamphylus and Threptes,
who have been some time emancipated, and who have been of
great service to me, besides all that they have previously re-
ceived from me, and all that they may lutve earned for them-
selves, and fdl that I have provided for being given them by
Hipparchus, two ^usand drachmas, and I enjoin that they
should have them in firm and secure possession, as I have
often said to them, and to Melantes and Pancreon, and they
have agreed to provide for this my will taking effect I also
give them the litde handmaid Somatale ; and of my slaves, I
ratify the emancipation of Melon, and Oimon, and Parmenon
which I have already given tiiem. And I hereby give their
liberty to M^ne8 and Callias, who have remained four years
in the garden, and have worked in it, and have conducted
themselves in an unimpeachable manner. And I direct that
my executors ^lall give Pamphylus as much of my household
furniture as may seem to them to be proper, and shall sell the
rest. And I give Carion to Demotimus, and Donar to Neleus,
I order Eulius to be sold, and I request Hipparchus to give
Callinus three thousand drachmas. And if I had not seen
the great service that Hipparchus lias been to me in former
times, and the embarrassed state of his affairs at present, I
should have associated Melantes and Pancreon with him in
these gifts. But as I see that it would not be easy for them
to arrange to manage the property together, I have thought
it likely to be more advantageous for them to receive a iixed

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sum from Hipparchus. Therefore, let Hipparchus pay to
Melantes and to Pancreon a talent a-piece; and let liim
also pay to my executors the money necessary for the expenses
which 1 have here set down in my wUL as it shall require
to he expended. And when he has done this, then I will
that he shall be discharged of all dehts due from him to me
or to my estate. And K any profit shall accrue to him in
Chalcis, from property belonging to me, it shall be all his
own. My executors, for all the daties provided for in this
will, shall be Hipparchus, Neleus, Strato, Calliniis, Demo-
timus, Gallisthenes, and Ctesarcfaas. And this my nill is
oopied out, and all the eopies are sealed with the seal-ring of
me, Theophrastus ; one copy is in the hands of Hegesias the
son of Hipparchus; the witnesses thereto are Callippus of
Pallene, Philomelus of Euonymns, Lysander of Hybas, and
PMlion of Alopece. Another copy is deposited with Olym-
piodorus, and the witnesses are the same. A third copy is
under the care of Adimantos, and it was conveyed to him by
Androsthenes, his son. The witnesses to that copy are Arim-
nestos the son of Gleobolus, Lysistratos of Thrasos, tiie son of
Phidon ; Strato of Lampsacns, the son of Arcesilans; Thesip-
pus of Oeiami, the son Thesippus ; Diosoorides of the banks
of the Oephisos, the son <^ Dionysios. — ^This was his will.

XV. Some writers hare stated that Eiasistratus, the phy-
dcian, was a pupil of his ; and it is Teiy likely.

LIF£ OF STRATO.

L Thbofhbastus was soceeedod in the presidency of his
schod by Stmto of Lampeacus^ the son of Aicesilatts, of whom
he had made mention in his will.

II. He was a man of great enrinoice, sumamed the Natural

Philosopher, from his 6uq)assing all men in the diOigence
with which he applied himself to the investigation of matters

of that nature. ' .

III. He was also the preceptor of Ptolemy Philadelphus,
and received from him, as it is said, eighty talents ; and he

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SIBATO.

hegon to preside over the school, as Apollodorns tells us in
his Chronicles, in the hundred and twenty-third olympiad,
end continued in that post for eighteen years.

IV. There are extant three books of his on Kingly Power;
three on Justice ; three on the Gods ; three on Beginnings ;
and one on each of the subjects of Happiness, Pboloeophy,
Manly Courage, the Yacuum, Heaven, Spirit, Human Nature,
the Genemtion of Animals, Mixtures, ^eep, Dreams, Sight,
Perception, Pleasure, Colours, Diseases, Judgments, Powers,
Metallic Works, Hunger, and Dimness of Sight, lightness
and Heaviness, Enthusiasm, Pain, Nourishment and Growth,
Animals whose Existence is Doubted, Fabulous Animals,
Causes, a Solution of Doubts, a preftoe to Topics ; there are,
also, treatises on Cofitingendes, on the Definition, on the
More and Less, on Injustice, on Former and Later, on the
Prior Genus, on Property, on the Future. There are, also,
two books called the Examination of Liventious; the Genu-
ineness of the Commentaries attributed to him, is doubted.
There is a volume of Episties, which begins thus : " Strato
wishes Arsinoe prosperity.**

Y, They say that he became so thin and weak, that he
died without its being pemived. And there is. an epigram
of ours upon him in the following terms :— •

The man mm thin, believe me, from the use.

Of frequent unguents ; Strato was his nam^
A citizen of Lampsacus ; he struggled long
WHh fell disease, and died at last umioticeid.

YL There were eight people of the name of Strato. The
first was a pupil of Isocrates ; the second was the man of
whom we have been speaking ; the third was a physician, a
pupil of Erasistratus, or, as some assert, a foster-child of
his ; the Iburth was an historian, who wrote a history of the
Achievements of Philip and Perses in their wars against the
Bomans. .... The sixth was an ej)igraramatic poet ;
the seventh was an ancient physician, as Aristotle tells us;
the eighth was a Peripatetic philosopher, who lived in Alex-
andria.

VII. But the will, too, of this natural philosopher is extant,
and it is couched in the following language : — ** If anything
happens to me, I make this disposition of my property. I

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leave all my property in ray house to Lampyrion and Arce-
silaus ; and with the money which I have at Athens, in the
first ])hice, let my executors provide for my funeral and ft:>r all
other customary expenses ; without doing anything extravagant,
or, on the other hand, anything mean. And the following
shall be my executors, according to this my will : Olympichus,
Aristides, Innesigenes, Hippocrates, Epicrates, Gorgylus,
Diocles, Ljcon, and Athanes, And my school I leave to
Lycon, since of the others some are too old, and othere too
busy. And the rest will do well, if they ratify this anange-
ment of mine. I also bequeath to him all my books, except
such as we have imtten oimelres ; and all my furniture in
the dining-ioom, and the couches, and the drinking cups.
And let my executors give Epicrates five hundred drachmas,
and one of my slaves, according to the choice made by
ArcesilauB. And first of all, let Lampyrion and Arcesilaus
cancel the engagements which Daippus has entered into for
Ireus. And let him be acquitted of all obligation to Lampy-
rion or the heirs of Lampyrion; and lot him also be dis-
charged fi!om any bond or note of hand he may have given.
And let my executors give him five hundred drachmas of silver,
and one of my slaves, whichever Arcesilaus may approve, in
order that, as he has done me great service, and coK>perBfted
with me in many things, he may have a oompetem^, and be
enabled to live decently. And I give their freedom to Die-
phantas» and Diocles, and Abus. Simias I give to Arcesilaus.
I also give his fireedom to Dromo. And when Arcesilaus
arrives, let Iiseus calculate with Olympicus and Epicrates,
and the rest of my executors, the amount that has been ex-
pended on my fimeral and on other customaiy expenses. And
let the money that remains, be paid over to Arcesilaus by
Olympichus, who shall give him no trouble, as to the time or
manner of payment. And Arcesilaus shall discharge the
engagements which Strato has entered into with Olympichus
and Ausinias, which are preserved in writing in the care of
Philoreatos, the son of l^samenus. And wi& respect to my
monument, let them do whatever seems good to AroesOaus,
and Olympichus, and Lycon.

This is his will, which is still extant, as Aristo, the Chian,
has collected and published it.

VIU. And this Strato was a man, as has been shown above»

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205

of deservedly great popularity ; having devoted himself to the
study of every kind of philosophy, and especially of that
branch of it called natural philosophy, which is one of the
most ancient and important branches o£ the whole.

LIFE OF LYCON.

I. He was succeeded by Lycon, a native of the Troas, the
son of Astyanax, a man of great eloquence, and of especial
ability in the education of youth. For he used to say that
it was fit for boys to be harnessed with modesty and rivalry,
as much as for horses to be equipped \\ith. a spur and a bridle.
And his eloquence and energy in speaking is apparent, from
this instance. For he speaks of a virgin who was poor in the
following manner : — " A damsel, who, for want of a dowr\%
goes beyond the seasonable age, is a heavy burden to her
father ; " on which acccount they say that Antigonus said with
reference to him, that the sweetness and beauty of an apple
could not be transferred to anything else, but that one might
see, in the case of this man, aJl these excellencies, in as great
perfection as on a tree ; and he said this, because he was a
surpassingly sweet speaker. On which account, some people
prefixed a r to his name.* But as a writer, he was very
unequal to his reputation. And he used to jest in a
careless way, upon those who repented that they had not
learnt when they had the. opportunity, and who now wished
that they had done so, saying, said that they were accusing
themselves, showing by a prayer which could not possibly be
accomplished, their misplaced repentance for their idleness.
He used also to say, that those who deliberated without coming
to a right conclusion, erred in their calculations, like men.
who investigate a correct nature by an incorrect standard, or
who look at a face in disturbed water, or a distorted mirror.
Another of his sayiiig was, that many men go in pursuit of
the crown to be won in the forum, but few or none seek to attain
the one to be gained at the Olympic games.

II. And as he in many instances gave much advice to the
Athenians, he was of exceedingly great service to them.

* So as to make it aiip^ ooimeoied with yXiw^, swMt.

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III. He was also a person of great neatness in his dress,
wearing garments of an unsurpassable delicacy, as we are
told by Hermippus. He was at the same time exceedingly

devoted to the exercises of the Gymnasium, and a niun who
was always iu excellent condition as to liis body, displaying
every quality of an athlete (though Antigonus of Carystus,
pretends that he was bruised about the ears and dirty) ; and in
liis own country he is said to have wrebilod and flayed at ball
at the Ilioean games.

IV. And he was exceedingly beloved by Eumenes and
Attalus, who made him great presents ; auii Antigouus also
tried to seduce him to ins court, but was disappunited. And
he was so great an enemy to Ilieronymus the Peripatetic,
that he was the only persrtn who would not go to see him on
tlie anniversary festival vihich he used to celebrate, and which
we have mentioned in our life of Arcesilaus.

V. And he presided over his school forty-four years, as
Strato had left it to him in his will, in the hundred and
twenty-seventh olympiad.

VI. He was also a pupil of Panthoides, the dialectician.

VII. He died when he was seventy-four years of age,
having been a great sufferer with the gout, and there is an
epigram of ours upon him

Kor shflU irise Lycon be foigofcton, who
Died of the gout, and much I wonder at it

For he who ne'er before could walk alone,
Went the long road to hell in a eiogle night

VIIT. There were several people of the name of Lycon.
The iirst was a Pythagorean ; the second was this man of
whom we are speaking ; the third was an epic poet ; the
foui'th was an epigrammatic poet.

IX. I have fallen in with the following will of this philo-
sopher. " I make the following disposition of my property ;
if I am unable to withstand this disease : — All the property in
my house 1 leave to my brothers Astyanrrx and Lycon ; and
I think that they ought to pay all that 1 owe at Athens, and
tliat I may have borrowed from any one, and also all the
expenses that may be incurred for my funeral, and for other
customary solemnities. And all that 1 have in in the city, or
Uk .^gina, I give to Lycon bocausu he bears the same name

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207

that I do, and because he has spent the greater part of his
life with me, showing me the greatest affection, as it was fitting
that he should do, since he was in the place of a son to me.
And I leave my garden walk to those of mj friends who like
to use it: to Bulon, and Callinus, andAriston, and Amplicon,
and Lycon, and Python, and Aristomachus, and Heracleus,
and Lycomedes, and Lycon my nephew. And I desire that
they will elect as president him whom they think most likely
to remain attached to the pursuit of philosoj)hy, and most
capable of holding tlio school togetlier. And I entreat the
rest of my friends to acquiesce in their election, for my sake
and that of the place. And I desire that Bulon, and CalHiius,
and the rest of my friends will manage my funeral and the
burning of my body, so that my obsequies may not be either
mean or extravagant. And the property wliicli I have in
^gina shall be divided by Lycon after my decease among the
young men there, for the purpose of anointing themselves, in
order that the memory of me and of him who honoured me,
and who showed his affection by useful presents, may be long
preserved. And let him erect a statue of me ; and as for the
place for it, I desire that Diophantus and Heraclides the son
of Demetrius, shall select that, and take care that it be suitable
for the proposed erection. With the property that I have in the
dly let Lycon pay all the people of whom I have borrowed any-
tbuig since his departure; and let Bulon and Callinus join him
in this, and also in discharging all the expenses incurred for
mj funeral, and iox all other customary solemnities, and let
him deduct the amount from the funds which I have left in
my house, and bequeathed to them both in common. Let him
also pay the physicians, Pasithemis and Medias, men who,
for their attention to me and for their skill, are very deseiring
of still greater honour. And I give to the son of Callinus my
pair of Thandean cups ; and to his wife I give my pair of
Bbodian eups, and my smooth carpet, and my double carpet,
and my curtains, and the two best pillows of all that I leave
behind me ; so that as far as the compliment goes, I may be
seen not to have forgotten them. And with respect to those
who have been my servants, I make the following disposition :
—-To Demetrius who has long been freed, I remit the price
of his freedom, and I further give five minse, and a cloak, and
a tunic, that as he has a great deal of trouble about me, he

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may pass the rest of his life comfortably. To Criton, the
Chalcedonian, I also remit the price of his freedom, and I
further give him four minae. Micras I hereby present with
his freedom ; and I desire Lycon to maintain him, and
instruct him for six years from the present time. T also give
. his freedom to Chares, and desire Lycon to maintain him.
And I further give him two miniL', and all my books that are
published ; but those which are not publislied, I give to
Callinus, that he may publish them with due care. I also
give to Syrus, whom I have already emancipated, four minae,
and Menedora ; and if he owes me anything I acquit him of
the debt. And I give to Hilaras four minae, and a double
carpet, and two pillows, and a curtain, and any couch which
he chooses to select. I also hereby emancipate the mother of
Micras, and Noemon, and Dion, and Theon, and Euphranor,
and Hermeas ; and I desire that Agathon shall have bin
freedom when he has served two years longer ; and that
Opbelion, and Posoideon, my litter-bearers, shall have theirs
when they have w^aited four years more. I also give to
Demetrius, and Criton, and Syrus, a couch a piece, and
coverlets from those which I leave behind me, according
to the selection which Lycon is hereby authorised to make.
And these are to be their rewards lor having performed the
duties to which they were appointed well. Concerning my
burial, let Lycon do as he pleases, and bury me here or at
home, just as he likes ; for I am sure that he has the same
regard for propriety that I myself have. And I give all the
things herein mentioned, in d^e confidence that he will arrange
everything properly. The witnesses to this my will are
Oalhnus of Hermione, Ariston of Ceos, and £uphronius of
P«ania.*'

As he then was thoroughly wise in everything relating to
education^ and every branch of philosophy, he was no less
prudent and careful in the framing of his will. So that in
this respect to he deserveg to be admired and imitated.

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LIFE OF DEMETRIUS.

I. Demetrius was a native of Phalerus, and the son of
Phanostratus. He was a pupil of Theophrastus.

II. And as a leader of the people at Athens he goveraed
the city for ten years, and was honoured with three hundred
and sixty brazen statues, the greater part of which were
equestrian: and some were placed iu carriages or in pair-
horse chariots, and the entire number were finished within
three liundred days, so great was the zeal with which they
were worixcd at. And Demetrius, the Magnesian, in his
treatise on People of the same Name, says that he begiEin to be
the leader of the commonwealth, when Harpalos arrived in
Athens, havirifr iled from Alexander. And he gOTOmed his
country for a long time in a most admirable maimer. For he
aggrandised the city by increased revenues and by new build-
ings, although he was a person of no distinction by birth.

III. Though Pharorinus, in the first book of his Common*
taries, asserts that he was of the family of Conon.

ly. He lived with a citizen of noble birth, named Lamia,
as his mistress, as the same author tells us in his first book.

V. Again, in his second book he tells us that Demetrius
was the slave of the debaucheries of Cleon.

VI. Didymus, in his Banquets, says that he was called
X^'jrol3xi(paff>i, or Beautiful Ejed, and Lampeto, bjr some
courtesan.

VII. It is said that he lost his eye-sight in Alexandria, and
zecorered it again by the favour of Serapis ; on which account
he composed the pseans which are sung and spoken of as his
composition to this day.

VIII. He was held in the gi'eatest honour among the Athe-
nians, but nevertheless, he found his &me darkened by envy,
which attacks every thing; for he was impeached by some
one on a capital change, and as he did not appear, he was con
demned* His accusers, however, did sot become masters of
his person, but expended their venom on the brass, tearing
down his statues and selling some and throwing others into
the sea, and some they cat up into chamber-pots. For even
this is stated. And one statae alone of him is preserved

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which is in the Acropolis. Bat Phaforinus in his UniTersal
Histoiy, says that the Athenians treated Demetrius in this
manner at die command of the king ; and they also impeached
him as guilty of illegality in his administration, as Pharorinos
says* Bui Hermippus says, that after the death of Cassander»
he feared the enmity of Antigonus, and on that account fled
to Ptolemy Soter ; and that he remained at his court for a
long time, and, among other pieces of advice, counselled the
king to make over the kingdom to his sons by Eurydice.
And as he would not agree to this measure^ but gave the
crown to his son by Berenice, this latter, after the death of
bis father, commanded Demetrius to be kept in prison until
he should come to some determination about him* And there
he remained in great despondency ; and while asleep on one
occasion, he was bitten by an asp in the hand, and so he died.
And he is buried in the district of Busiris, near Diospolis, and
we have written the following epigram on him : —

An asp, whoM tooth of venom dire wm fall,

IHd kiU the wise Demetrius.
The serpent beamed not light frooi OUt his eyei, "

Bat dark aad lurid helL

But Heraclides, in his Epitome of the Successions of Sotion,
says that Ptolemy wished to transmit tlie kingdom to Pliila-
delphus, and that Demetrius dissnaded him from doing so by
the argument, '* If you give it to another, you will not have it
youreelf." And when Menander, the comic j)oet, had an
information laid against him at Athens (for this is a state-
ment whicli I have heard), he was very nearly convicted, for
no other reason but that he was a friend of Demetrius. He
was, however, successfully defended bj Telesphorus, the son-
in-law of Demetrius.

IX. In the multitude of his writings and the number of
lines whicli they amount to, he exceeded nearly all the Peri-
patetics of his day, being a man of great leaniing and expe-
rience on every subject. And some of liis writings are his-
torical, some political, some on poets, some rhetorical, some
also are speeclies delivered in public assemblies or on em-
bassies ; there are also collections of -^-Esop s Fables, and many
other books. There are five volumes on the Legislation of
Athens; two on Citizens of Athens; two on the Manage-

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meot of the People ; two on Political SdoDce; one on Laws ;
two on Rhetoric ; two on Military Affiiixs ; two on the Iliad ;
four on the Odyssey ; one called the Ptolemy ; one on Love ;
the Phffidcmdts, one ; the M8edon> one ; the Gleon, one ; the
Socrates, one ; the Artaxeixes, one ; the Homeric, one ; the
Aristides, (me ; the Ariatomadhus, one ; the Exhortatoiy, one ;
one on the Constitution ; one on his Ten Yeare' Government ;
one on the lonians; one on Ambassadors; one on Good
Faith ; one on Gratitude ; one on Futurity ; one on Greatness
of Soul ; one on Marriage ; one on Opinion ; one on Peace ;
one on Laws; one on Studies; one on Opportunity; the
Dionysius, cue ; the Chalcidean, one ; the Maxims of the
Athenians, one ; on Antiphones, one ; a Historic Preface, one ;
one Vol nine of Letters ; one called an Assembly on Oath ; one
on Old Age; one on Justice; one volume of ^sop's P""ables ;
one of Apophtliegms. His style is philosophical, combined
with the energy and impressiveness of an orator.

X. When he was told that the Athenians had thrown down
lus statues, he said, " But they have not thrown down my
virtues, on account of which they erected them." He used to
say that the eyebrows were not an insignificant pait of a
man, for that they were able to overshadow the whole life*
Another of his sayings was that it was not Plutus alone who
was blind, but Fortune also, who iu ted as his guide. Another,
that reason had as much influence on govei'nment, as steel
had in war. On one occasion, when he saw a debauched young
man, he said, " There is a square Mercury with a long robe,
a belly, and a beard." It was a favourite saying of his, that
in the case of men elated with pride one ought to cut some-
thing off their height, and leave them their spirit. Another
of his apophthegms was, that at home young men ought to
show respect to their parents, and in the streets to every one
whom thoy met, and in solitary places to themselves. Another,
that frii lids ought to come to others in good fortune only
when invited, but to those in distress of their own accord.

These are the cliief sayings attributed to liim.

XI. There were twenty persons of tlie name of Demetrius,
of sufficient consideration to be entitled to mention. First,
a Chalcedonian, an orator, older than Thrasymachus ; the.
second, this person of whom we are speaking ; the third was a
Byzantine, a Peripatetic philosopher ; the fourth was a man

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did UYSS OF £MINSNI PHIL060PHEB8.

turnamed Graphicus, a veiy eloquent lecturer, and also a
painter; the Mth was a natiTe of Aspendus, a disciple of
Apollonius, of Soli ; the sixth was a native of Golatia, who wrote
twenty books about Asia and Europe; the seTenth was a
Byzantine, who wrote an account of the crossing of the Gauls
from Europe into Asia, in thirteen books, and the History of
Antiochus and Ptolemy, and their Administration of the
Affairs of Africa, in eight more ; the eighth was a Sophist
who lived in Alexandria, and who wrote a treatise on Rheto-
rical Art ; the ninth was a native of Adramyttimn, a gram-
marian, who was nick-named Ixion, in allusion to some crime
he had committed against Juno ; the tenth was a Oyrenean,
a grammarian, who was sumamed Stamnus,* a very distin-
gmshed man ; the eleventh was a Scepsian, a rich man of noble
hirth, and of great eminence for learaing. He it was who
advanced the fortunes of Metrodorus his fellow citizen ; the
twelfth was a grammarian of Euthynsy who was made a citizen
of Lemnos ; the thirteenth was a Bjthinian, a son of Diphilus
the Stoic, and a disciple of Pamotus of Khodes ; the fourteenth
was an orator of Smyrna. All of these were prose writers.

The following were poets : — ^The first a poet of the Old
Comedy. The second an Epic poet, who has left nothing
behind him that has come down to us, except these lines
which he wrote against some envious people : —

- They diprcgarri n man while still alive,

Whom, when he's dead, they honour ; cities proud.
And powerful nations, have with contest fierce,
Fougpt o'er a tomb and uiuiibtaiitial shade.

The third was a native of Tarsus ; a writer of Satires. The
fourth was a composer of lamhics, a hitter man. The fifth
was a statuary, who is mentioned by Polemo. The sixth was
a native of Erythrae, a man who wrote on various sulgects,
and who composed volumes of histories and relations.

* trrafivo^y means an earthenware jar for wine.

+ The foregoing account hardly does justice to Demetrius, who was
a man of real ability, and of a very different class to the generality of
ihxm whom the ancients dignified with the title of phOoeopliers. He
was called FhalereuB, to distinguish him from his contemporary Deme*
trius Poliorcetes. Hie administration of tike affairs of Athens was so
successful, that Cicero gives him the pmise of having re-eatabUshed
the sinking and almost prostrate power of the republic

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213

LIFE OF HERACLIDES/

I. Heraclides was the son of Eathyphron, and was bora
at Heraclea, in Pontus ; he \vta also a wealthy man.

II. After he came to Athens, he was at first a disciple of.
Speusippus, but he also attended the schools of the Pythago-
rean philosophers, and he adopted the principles of Plato ;
last of all he became a pupil of AristotlOias we are told by
Sotion in his book entitled the Successions.

III. He used to wear delicate garments* and was a man
of great size, so that he was nicknamed by the Athenians
Fompicus* instead of Ponticus. But he was of quiet manners
and noble aspect

IV. There are several books extant by bim, which are
exceedingly good and admirable. They are in the form of
dialogue ; some being Ethical dialogues ; three on the soligect
of Justice ; one on Temperance ; five on Piety ; one on Manly
Courage ; one, and a second which is distinct from it, on
Virtue ; one on Happiness ; one on Supremacy ; one on Laws
and questions connected with them; one on Names; one
called Covenants ; one called The Unwilling Lover ; and the
Clinias.

(Cic de Rep. iL 1.) As an orator, he is spoken of by the same great
authority with the highest admiratioiL Cicero calls him " a subtle
disputer, not vehement, but very sweet, as a pupil of TheophrastoB
might be expected to be." (de Off. i 3). In another place he praises
him aa possessed of great learning, and as one who rather delighted
than inflamed the Athenians." (de Clav. Orat. § 37.) And says,
" that he was the first person who tjudeavoured to soften eloquence,
and who made it tender and gentle ; preferring to appear sweety as
indeed he was, rather than vehement." (Ibid § 38.) In another place
he* says, "Demetrius Phalereiis the most polished of all those orators'*
(he has been mentioning Demosthenes, Hyporides, Lycurgua, yKnchines,
and Dinarchus) in my opinion." (de Orat. ii. 23.) And he praises
him for not confining his Wi'»ii«g to the sohools, but for bringing it
into daily use, and employing itas one of his ordinary weapons, (de Leg.
iii. 14.) And asks who can be found besides him who excelled in
both ways, so as to be pre-eminent at the same time as a scholar, and
a governor of a state. (Ibid.) Ho mentions his death in the oration
for Rabirius Postnmus, § 9. He appears to have died about B.a 282.
* From xo/iTT/), a prociaasioiL

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Of the physical dialogues, one is on the Mind ; one on
the Soul ; one on the Soul, and Nature and Appearances :
006 addressed to Deraocritus ; one on the Heavenly Bodies ;
one on the State of Things in the Shades below ; two on
lives ; one on the Causes of Diseases ; one on the Good ; one
on the doctrines of Zeno ; one on the Doctrines of Metron.

Of his grammatical dialogues, there are two on the Age of
Homer and Hesiod; two on Archilochus and Homer.

There are some on ]\Iusic too ; three on Euripides and
Sophocles, and two on Music There are also two volumes.
Solutions of Questions coticeming Homer ; one on Specula-
tions ; one, the Three Tragedians ; one volume of Characters ;
one dialogue on Poetry aud the Poets ; one on Conjecture ;
one on Foresight ; four, being Explanations of Heraclitus ; one.
Explanations with refermice to Democritus; two books of
Solutions of Disputed Points; one, the Axiom; one on
Species ; one book of Solutions ; one of Suj^positions ; one
addressed to Dionysius.

Of rhetorical works, there is the dialogue on the being an
Orator, or the Protagoras.

Of historical dialogues, there are some on the Pythagoreans,
and on Inventions, Of these, some he has drawn up after the
manner of Comic writers; as, for instance, the one about
Pleasure, and that about Temperance. And some in the style
of the Tragedians, as, for instance, the dialogues on the State
of Things in the Shades below ; and one on Piety, and that
on SupreAiacy. And his style is a conversational and moderate
one, suited to the characters of philosophers and men occupied
in Ihe military or political affitirs conversing together. Some
of his works sdso are on Geometry, and on Dialectics ; and in
aJl of them he displays a veiy varied and elevated style ; and
he has great powers of persuasion.

V. He appears to have delivered his country when it was
under the yoke of tyrants, by slaying the monarch, as Deme-
trius of Magnesia tells us, in his treatise on People of the
Same Name.

TI. And he gives the following account of him. Tluit lie
brought up a young serpent, and kept it till it grew large ;
and that when he was at the point of death, he desired one of
his faithful friends to hide his hody, and to place the serpent
iu his bed, that he might appear to have migrated to the

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AOUPIS. 215

Gods. And all this was done ; and while the citizens were
all attending his funeral and extolling his character, tlie
serpent hearing the noise, crept out of his clothes and threw
the multitude into confusion. And afterwards eveiything was
rsTealed, and Heraclides was seen, not as he hoped to have
been, hut as he really was. And we have written an epigram
on mm which runs Uius : —

, You wish'd, 0 Heraclidep, when you died,
To leave a ttnnge beUef among manldncly
£ That you, when dead, a ierpent had becoma.

But all your calculations were deceived,

For this your serpent was indeed a beast,

And you were thus diacovered and pronounced another.

And Hippobotus gives the same account.

But Hermippus says that once, when a famine oppressed
the land, the people of Heraclea consulted the Pythian oracle
for the way to get rid of it; and that Heraclides oomipted
the ambassadors who were sent to consult the oracle, and also
the priestess, mth. bribes ; and that she answered that they
woold obtain a deliverance from their distresses, if Heraclides,
the son of Euthyphron, was presented by them with a golden
crown, and if when he was dead they paid him honours as a
hero. Accordingly, this answer was brought back from the
oracle to Heraclea, but they who brought it got no advantage
from it ; for as soon as Heraclides had been crowned in the
theatre, he was seized with apoplexy, and the ambassadors
who had been sent to consult the oracle were stoned, and so
pot to death; and at the veiy same moment the Pythian
priestess was going down to the inner shrine, and while
standing there was bitten by a serpent, and died immediately.
This tlien is the account given of his death.

VII. And Aristoxenus the musician says, that he composed
tragedies, and inscribed them mth the name of Thespis. And
Ohamsleon says, that he stole essays from him on the subject
of Homer and Hesiod, and published them as his own. And
Aretodoms the Epicurean reproadies him, and contradicts
all the arguments which he advanced in his treatise on
Justice. Moreover, Dionysius, called the Deserter, or as some
say Spentharus, wrote a tragedy called ParthenopseuSi and
forged the name of Sophocles to it. And Heraclides was so
much deceiTcd that he took some passages out of one of his

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216 LIVES OF EMINENT PUlLOSOPUli;BS.

works, and cited them as the words of Sophocles ; and Diony-'
sius, when he perceived it, gave him notice of the real truth ;
and as he would not helieve it, and denied it, he sent him
word to examine the first letters of the iii*st verses of the
book, and tliey formed tlie name of Panculus, who was a friend
of Dionysius. And as Heraclides still refused to believe it,
and said that it was possible that such a thing might happen
by chance, Dionysius sent liim back word oace more, " You
will £ud this passage too : —

" An aged monkey is not ea.sily caught ;
Ho'b caught indeed, but oiily ftf tar a tima."

And he added, ** Heiadides knows nothing of letten, and has
no shame."

VIII. And there were fourteen persons of the name of
Hexaolides, First, this man of whom we are speaking ; the
second was a fellow citizen of his, who composed songs for
X^hic dances, and other trifles ; the third was a native of
GanuB, who wrote a histoij of the Persian war in five hooks ;
the fourth was also a citizen of Gumie, who was an orator, and
wrote a treatise on his art ; the fifth was a native of Calatia
or Alexandria, who wrote a Succession in six hooks, and a
treatise on Ships, fix)m which he was called Lembos; the
sixth was an Alexandrian, who wrote an account of the
peculiar hahits of the Persians ; the seventh was a dialectician
of Baigyleia, who wrote agiunst Epicurus ; the eighth was a

?hjsician, a pupil of Nisius ; the ninth was a physician of
'arentum, a man of great skill ; the tenth was a poet, who
wrote Preeepts ; the eleventh was a sculptor of Phocsea ; the
twelfth was an Epigrammatic poet of considerable beauty ; the
thirteenth was a Magnesian, who wrote a history of the reign
of Mithridates ; the fourteenth was an astronomer, who wrote
a treatise on Astronomy.

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BOOK VL

LIFE OF ANTISTHENES.

I. AimsTHENES iros an Athenian, the son of Antisthenes.
And he was said not to be a legitimate Athenian ; in reference
to which he said to some one who was reproaching him with
the circumstance, ** The mother of the Gods too is a Phry-
gian for he was thought to have had a Thracian mother^
On which aoooimt, as he had borne himself bravely in the battle
of Tanagra, he gave occasion to Socrates to say that the son of
two Athenians could not have been so brave. And he himself,
when disparaging the Athenians who gave themselves great
airs as luiving been bom out of the earth itself, said that
they were not more noble as Dar as that went than snails and
locusts.

II. Originally he was a pupil of Gorgias the rhetorician ;
owing to which circumstance he employs the rhetorical style
of language in his Dialogues, especiaUy in his Truth and in
his Exhortations. And Hennippus says, that he had origi*
nally intended in his address at the assembly, on account of t£ie
Isthmian games, to attack and also to praise the Athenians,
and Thebans, and Lacedaemonians ; but that he afterwards
abandoned the design, when he saw that there were a great
many spectators come horn those cities. Afterwards, he
attached himself to Socrates, and made such progress in
philosophy while with him, that he advised all his own pupils
to become his fellow pupils in the school of Socrates. And as
he lived in the Piraeus, he went up forty fiirlongs to the dtj
eveiy day, in order to hear Socrates, from whom he learnt the
art of enduring, and of being indifferent to external circum-
stances, and so became the original founder of the Cynic
school.

III. And he used to argue that labour was a good thing, by
adducing the examples of the great Hercules, and of Gyrus,
one of which he derived firom tihe Greeks and the other from
the barbarians.

IV. He was also the first person who ever gave a definition
of discourse, saying, ** Discourse is that which shows what

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dl8 * LIVES OF EMINENT PHILOSOraXBS.

anything is or was.** And he used continually to say, *'I
would rather go mad than feel pleasure." And, ** One ought
to attach udc s self to such women as will thank one for it. *
He said once to a youth from Pontus, who was on the point
of coming to him to be his pupil, and was asking him what
things he wanted, " You want a new book, and a new pen,
and a new tablet;" — meaning a new mind. And to a person
who asked him from what country he had better marry a
wife, he said, •* If you marr}' a handsome woman, she will be
common ;* if an ugly woman, she will he a punishment to you."
He was told once that Plato spoke ill of him, and lie replied,
** It is a royal privilege to do well, and to be evil spoken of."
When he was being initiated into the mysteries of Orpheus,
and the priest said that those who were initiated enjoyed
many good things in the shades below, " Why, then," said he
" do not you die ?" Being once reproached as not being the
son of two free citizens, he said, ** And I am not the son of
two people skilled in wrestling ; nevertheless, I am a skilful
wrestler.** On one occasion he was asked why he had but few
disciples, and said, ** Because I drove them away with a silver
rod." When he was asked why he reproved his pupils
with bitter language, he said, '* Physicians too use severe
remedies for their patients.** Once he saw an adulterer run-
ning away, and said, '* 0 rmhappv man ! how much danger
could you have avoided for ono obol !" He used to say, as
Hecaton tells us in his Apoplitliegms, " That it was better to
fall among crows,! than among batterers ; for that they only
devour the dead, but the others devour the living." When
he was asked what was the most happy event that could take
place in human life, he said, " To die while prosperous."

On one occasion one of his friends was lamenting to him
that he had lost his memoranda, and lie said to him, " You
ought to have written them on your mind, and not on paper.'*
A favourite saying of his was, ** That envious people were
devoured hy their own disposition, just as iron is by rust.**
Another was, " That those who wish to be immortal ought to
live pioosly and justly," He used to say too, That cities

♦ There is a play on the ttmilarity of the two sounda, koivj^, common,
and iroivrjf puniBhment.

t The Greek is, Iq i:6paKac, which WM a provorb for utter deitroo*
tlon. ' ,

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AMnSTHENES.

219

were ruined when they were unable to distinguisli worthless
citizens from virtuous ones.'*

On one occasion he was being praised by some ^cked men,
and said, *' I am sadly afraid that I must have done some wicked
thing." One of his fayourite sayings ms, That the fellow-
ship of brothers of one. mind was stronger than any fortified
city." He used to say, *• That those things were the best for
a man to take on a journey, which would ^oat with him if he
were shipwrecked." He was once reproached for being
intimate with wicked men, and said, " Physicians also live
with those who are sick ; and yet they do not catch fevers,''
He used to say, " that it was an absurd thing to clean a corn-
field of tares, and in war to get rid of bad soldiers, and yet not
to rid one's self in a dty of the wicked citizens." "When he
was asked what advantage he had ever derived from philo*
sophy, he replied, The advantage of being able to converse
with myself." At a drinking party, a man once said to him.

Give ns a song," and he replied, " Do you play us a tune
on the flute." When Diogenes asked him iat a tunic, he
bade him fold his cloak* He was asked on one occasion what
learning was the most necessary, and he replied, ** To unlearn
one*s bad habits." And he used to exhort those who found
themselves ill spoken of, to endure it more than they would
any one*s throwing stones at them. He used to laugh at I^ato
as conceited ; accordingly, once when there was a fine proces-
sion, seeing a horse neighing, he said to Plato, " I think you
too would be a very finsky horse and he said this all the
more, because Plato kept continually praising the horse. At
another time, he had gone to see him when he was ill, and
when he saw there a dish in which Plato had been sick, he
said, " I see your bile there, but I do not see your conceit.**
He used to advise the Athenians to pass a vote that asses
were horses ; and, as they l^ought that irrational, he said.

Why, those whom you make generals have never learnt to be
really generals, they have only been voted such.*

A man said to him one day, Many people praise you.*'
** Why, what evil,** said he, " have I done ?** When he turned
the rent in his cloak outside, Socrates seeing it, said to him,
" I see your vanity through the hole in your cloak.** On
another occasion, the question was put to him by some one,
as Phanias relates, in his treatise on the Philosphers of the

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d'20 LIVES OF EMINENT PfllLOSOPHEBS.*

Socratic school, what a man could do to show himself an
honourable and a virtuous man; and he replied, *' If you
atttend to those who understand the subject, and learn from
them that you ought to shun the bad habits which you have."
Some one was praising luxury in his hearing, and he said,
*' May the children of my enemies be luxurious." Seeing a
young man place himself in a carefully studied attitude
hefore a modeller, he said, "Tell me, if the brass could speak,
on what would it pride itself?" And when the young man
repUed, *' On its beauty/' "Are you not then," said he,
" ashamed to rejoice in the same thing as an inanimate piece
of brass?" A young man from Pontus once promised to
recollect him, if a vessel of salt fish arrived ; and so he took
him with him, and also an empty bag, and went to a woman
who sold meal, and filled his sack and went away; and when
the woman asked him to pay for it, he said, **The young man
will pay you, when the vessel of salt fish comes home.**

He it was who appears to have been the cause of Anytus's
banishment, and of Meletus's death. For having met with
bome young men of Pontus, who had come to Athens, on
account of the reputation of Socrates, he took them to
Anytus, telling them, that in moral philosophy he was
wiser than Socrates ; and they who stood by were indignant
at this, and drove him away. And whenever he saw a
woman beautifully adorned, he would go off to her house,
and desire her Inisband to bring forth his horse and his arms;
and then if he had such things, he would give him leave to
indulge in luxury, for that he had the means of defending
himself ; but if he had them not, then he would bid him strip
his wife of her ornaments.

y. And the doctrines he adopted were these. He used to
insist that virtue was a thing which might be taught ; also,
that the nobly bom and virtuously disposed, were the same
people ; for that virtue was of itself sufficient for happiness*
and was in need of nothing, except the strength of Socrates.
He also looked upon virtue as a species of work, not wanting
many aigmnents, or much instruction ; and he taught that
the wise man was sufficient for himself ; for that everything
that belonged to any one else belonged to him. He con-
sidered obscurity of fame a good thing, and equally good with
labour. And he used to say that t& wise man would regu*

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anhsthenes. flfil

late bis conduct as a citusen, not according to the establiBhed
laws of the state, but according to the law of virtue. And
that he would marry iot the sake of having children, selecting
the meet beautiful woman for his wife. And that he would
love her; for that the wise man alone knew what objects
deserved love;

Diocles also attributes the following apophthegms to him.
To the wise man, nothing is strange and nothing femote.
The virtuous man is worthy to be loved. Good men are
friends. It is right to make the brave and just one's allies.
Virtue is a weapon of which a man cannot be deprived. It
is better to fight with a few good men against all the wicked,
than with many wicked men against a few good men. One
should attend to one's enemies, for they are the first persons
to detect one's , erron. One should consider a just man as
of more value than a relation. Virtue is the same in a man
as in a woman. What is good is honourable, and yfhtLt is
had is disgraceful; Think everything that is wicked, foreign.
Prudence is the safest fortification; for it can neither Mi
to pieces nor be betrayed. One. must prepare one's self a
fortress in one*s own impregnable thoughts.

VI. He used to lecture in the Gymnasium, called Cyno-
sarges, not &r from the gates ; and some people say that it
is from that place that the sect got the name of Cynics.
And he himself was called Haplocyon (downright dog).

VII. He was the first person to set the fiishion of doubling
his cloak, as Diocles says, and he wore no other garment.
And he used to carry a stick and a wallet ; but Neanthes says
that he was the first person who wore a doak without
folding it. But Sosicrates, in the third book of his Succes-
sions, says that Diodorus, of Aspendos, let his beaid grow,
and used to carry a stick and a wallet.

VIII. He is the only one of all the pupils of Socrates,
whom Theopompiis praises and speaks of as clever, and able
to pei*suade whomsoever he pleased by the sweetness of his
conversation. And this is ])lain, botli from his own writings,
and from the Banquet of Xenophon. He appeal's to have
been tlie founder of the more manly Stoic school ; on which
account Athenseus, the epigrammatist, speaks thus of them :—

O ye, who learned are in Stoic fables,

To who oonsigzi the wiflest of all doctrinea

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222 IiI7£S OF SMINBNT PHILOSOPHEBS.

To your most sacred books ; you say that 'viitlie
Is the solo good ; for that aloue cau save
The life of man, and strongly fenced cities.
But if some fiEtncy pleasure their beet aim,
One of tiie Hnaea 'tia who has ooiiTinc*d Uiem.

He was the original cause of the apathy of Diogenes, and
the temperance of Crates, and the patience of Zeno, having
himself, as it were, laid the foundations of the city which they
afterwards built. And Xenophon says, that in his conver-
sation and society, he was the most delightful of men, and
in every respect the most temperate.

IX. There are ten volumes of his writings extant. The first
volume is that in which there is the essay on Style, or on Figures
of Speech; the Ajax, or speech of Ajax; the Defence, of Orestes
or the treatise on Lawyers ; the Isographe, or the Lysias
and Isocrates ; the reply to tlie work of Isocrates, entitled
the Absence of Witnesses. The second volume is that in
which we have the treatise on the Nature of Animals ; on
the Pro-creation of Ciiildren, or on Marriage, an essay of an
amatory character ; on the Sophists, an essay of a physiogno-
mical character ; on Justice and Manly Virtue, being Uiree
essays of an hortatory character ; two treatises on Theognis.
The third Tolume contains a treatise on the Good ; on Maulj
Courage ; on Law, or Political Constitutions ; on Law, or
* what is Honourable and Just; on Freedom and Slavery;
on Good Faith; on a Guardian, or on Persuasion; on Victory,
an economical essay. The fourth volume contains tlie Cyrus ;
the Greater Heracles, or a treatise on Strength. The filth
volume contaiDs the Cyrus, or a treatise on Kingly Power ;
the Aspasia.

The sixth volume is that in which there is the treatise
Truth ; another (a disputatious one) conoming Aiguing ;
the Sathou, or on Contradiction, in three parts; and an
essay on Dialect. The seventh contains a treatise on Educa-
tion, or Names, in five books ; one on the Use of Names, or
the Contentious Man ; one on Questions and Answers ; one
on Opinion and Knowledge, in four books; one on Dying;
one on Liile and Death ; one on those who are in the Shades
below ; one on Nature, in two books; two books of Questions
in Natural Philosophy ; one essay, called Opinions on the
Contentious Man; one book of Problems, on the subject of

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A^TISTHENES.

Learning. The eighth volume is that in which we find a
treatise on Music ; one ou Interpreters ; one on Homer ; one
on Injustice and Impiety ; one ou Calchas ; one on a Spy ;
one on Pleasure. The ninth book contains an essay on the
Odyssey ; one on the Magic Wand ; the Minerva, or an essay
on Telcniachus ; an essay on Helen and Penelope ; one on
Proteus ; the Cyclops, being an essay on Ulysses ; an essay
on t\ie Use of Wine, or on Drunkenness, or on the Cyclops; one
on Circe ; one on Amphiaraus ; one on Ulysses and Penelope,
and also on Ulysses' Dog. The tenth volume is occupied by
the Heracles, or Medas; the Hercules, or an Essay on
Prudence or Strength ; the Lord or the Lover ; the Lord or
the Spies; the Menexenus, or an essay on Governing; the
Alcibiades ; the Archelaus, or an essay on Kingly Power.

These then are the names of his works. And Tiraon,
rebuking him because of their great number, called him a
universal chatterer.

X. He died of some disease ; and while he was ill Diogenes
came to visit him, and said to him, '*Have you no need oi" a
friend ?" Once too he came to see him ^sith a sword in his
hand ; and when Antisthenes said, *' Who can deliver me
from this suftering?" he, pointing to the sword, said, "This
can ;** Hut he rejoined, *' I said from suffering,^ but not from
life for he seemed to bear his disease the more calmly
from his love of life. And there is an epigram oa him written
by ourselves, ^rhich runs thus : —

In life yon were a bitter dog, AntifftlieneBf

Born to bite people's mindB with Bayin^i sharps

Not with your actual teeth. Now you are da^

By fell consumption, passers by may say,
"Why should he not , one wants a guide to Hell,

There were also three other people of the name of
Antisthenes. One, a disciple of HeracUtus ; the second, an
Ephesian ; the third, a historian of Rhodes. And since we
have spoken of tlu sc who proceeded from the school of
Aristippus and Phaedon, we may now go on to the Cynics
and Stoics, who derived their origin from Antisthenes. And
we will take them in the foUowing order.

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LIVES OF EMINENT PHILOSOPUEBS.

LIFE OF DIOGENES.

T. Diogenes was a native of iSinope, the son of I'resius, a
money-changer. And Diodes says that he was forced to
flee from his native city, as his father kept the puhlic bank
there, and had adulterated the coinage. But Euhulidcs, in his
essay on Diogenes, says, that it was Diogenes himself who
did this, and that he was banished with his father. And,
indeed, he himself, in his Perdalus, says of himself that he
had adulterated the public money. Othei*s say that he was one
of the curators, and was persuaded by the artisans employed,
and that he went to Delphi, or else to the oracle at Delos,
and there consulted Apollo as to wli ether he should do what
people were tryin^:^ to persuade him to do ; and that, as the
God gave him permission to do so, Diogenes, not comprehend-
ing that the God meant that he might change the political
customs* of his country if he could, adulterated the coinage ;
and being detected, was banished, as some people say, but as
other accounts have it, took the alarm and fled away of his own
accord. Some again, say that he adulteroted the money which
he had received from his father ; and that his father was
thrown into prison and died there ; but that Diogenes escaped
and went to Delphi, and asked, not whether he might tamper
with the coinage, but what he could do to become very
celebrated, and that in consequence he received the oracular
answer which I have mentioned.

II. And when he came to Athens he attached himself to
Antistheues ; but as he repelled him, because he admitted no
one ; he at last forced his way to him by his pertinacity. And
once, when he raised his stick at him. he put his head under
it, and said, '* Strike, for you will not find any stick hard
enough to drive me away as long as you continue to speak."
And from this time forth he was one of his pupils ; and being
an exile, he naturally betook himself to a simple mode of life.

III. And when, as Theophrastus tells us, in his Megaric
Philosopher, he saw a mouse running about and not seeking

* The passage is not free from difficulty ; but the thing wbidL misled
Duwenee appears to b^ye been thii t^|iw^, the word here used, meant
both ** a ooin, or oolnagi^'' and a custom.**

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DIOGENES.

225

for a bed, nor taking care to keep in the dark, nor lookinft for
any of tliuse things which appear enjoyable to such an animal,
he found a remedy for his own poverty. He was, according to
the account of some people, the first person who doubled up
his cloak out of necessity, and who slept in it ; and who carried
a wallet, in which he kept his food ; and who used whatever
place was near for all sorts of puri)oseS) eatings and sleeping,
and conversing in it. In reference to which liabit he used to
say. pointing to the Colonnade of Jupiter, and to the Public
Magazine, that the Athenians had built him places to live
in." Bein<^ attacked with illness, he supported himself with
a staff; and after that he carried it continually, not indeed in
the city, but whenever he was walking in the roads, together
with his wallet, as Olympiodorus, the chief man of the
Athenians tells us ; and Poly meter, the orator, and LysaniAS^
the son of ^schorion, tell the same story.

When he had written to some one to look out and get
ready a snuill liouse for him, as he delayed to do it, he took a
cask which he found in the Temple of Cybele, for his house,
as he himself tells us in his letters. And during the summer
he used to roll himself in the warm sand, but in winter he
would embrace statues all covered with snow, practising him-
self, on every occasion, to endure anything*

IV. He was very violent in expressing his haughty disdain
of others. He said that the tr^oX^ (school) of Euclides was
(gall). And he used to call Plato's diaTOijSrj (discussions)
xarar^tS^ (disguise). It was also a saying of his that the
Dionysian games were a f:rreat marvel to fools ; and that the
demagogues were the ministers of the multitude. He used
likewise to say, that when in the course of his life he beheld
pilots, and physicians^ and philosophers, he thought man the
wisest of all animals ; but when again he beheld interpreters
of dreams, and soothsayers, and those who listened to them,
and men puffed up with glory or riches, then he thought
that there was not a more foolish animal than man." Another
of his sayings was, " that he thought a man ought oftener to
provide himself with a reason than with a halter." On one
occasion, when he noticed Plato at a very costly entertainment
tasting some olives, he said, '* O you wise man ! why, after
having sailed to Sicily for the sake of such a feast, do you not
DOW eigoy what you have before you?*' And Plato repUedj

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** By the Gods, Diogenes, while I was there I ate olives and
all such things a great deal.** Diogenes rejoined, ** What then
did you want to sail to Syracuse for ? Did not Attica at that
time produce any olives ?'* But Pliavorinus, in his Universal
History, tells this story of Aristippixs. At another time he
was eating dried fj;:^^s, when Plato met him, and he said to him,
*' You may have a share of these and as he took some and
ate them, he said, " 1 said that you might have a share of
them, not that you might eat them all." On one occasion
Plato had invited some friends who had come to liim from
Dionysius to a hanquet, and Diogenes trampled on his carpets,
and said, " Thus 1 trample on the empty pride of Plato
and Plato made him answer, *' How much arrogance are you
displaying, O Diogenes ! when you think that you are not
arrogant at all." But, as others tell the story, Diogenes said,
"Thus I trample on the pride of Plato;" and that Plato
rejoined, ** With quite as much pride yourself, 0 Diogenes."
Sotion too, in his fourth hook, states, that the Cynic made the
following speech to Plato : Diogenes once asked him for some
wine, and then for some dried figs ; so he sent him an entire
jar full ; and Diogenes said to him, " Will you, if you are
asked how many two and two make, answer twenty? In this
way, you neither give with any reference to what you are asked
for, nor do you answer with reference to the question put to
you." He used also to ridicule him as an intermiuahle talker.
When he was asked where in Greece he saw virtuous men ;
** Men," said he, " nowhere ; but I see good boys in Lacedae-
mon." On one occasion, when no one came to listen to him
while he was discoursing seriously, he began to whistle. And
then when people flocked round him, he reproached tliem for
coming with eagerness to folly, but being lazy and indiifer-
ent about good things. One of his frequent sayings was,
** That men contended with one another in punchinLf and
kicking, but that no one showed any emulation in the
pursuit of virtue." He used to express his astonishment at the
grammarians for being desirous to learn everything about the
misfortunes of Ulysses, and being ignorant of their own. He
used also to say, *'That the musicians lltted the strings to the
lyro properly, but left all the habits of their soul ill-arranged."
And, " That mathematicians kept their eyes lixed on the sun
and mooQ, aud overlooked what was uuder their feet." Ti^

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orators were anxious to speak justlj^ but not at all about
acting so." Also, *' That misers blamed money, but were
preposLeruusly fund of it." He often condemned tliose who
praise the just for being superior to money, but who at the
same time are eager themselves for great riches. He was also
very indignant at seeing men sacrifice to the Gods to procure
good health, and yet at the sacrifice eating in a manner
iujunous to health. He often expressed his surprise at slaves,
who, seeing their masters eating in a gluttonous manner, still
do not themselves lay hands on any of the eatables. He
would frequently praise those who were about to marry, and
yet did not marry ; or who were about to take a voyage, and
yet did not take a voyage ; or who were about to engage in
afi^rs of state, and did not do so ; and those who were
about to rear children, yet did not rear any ; and tliose who ~
were preparing to take up their abode with princes, and
yet did not take it up. One of his sayings was, ** That one
ought to hold out one's baud to a friend without closing the .
fingers."

Hermippus, in his Sale of Diogenes, says that he was
taken prisoner and put up to be sold, and asked what he
could do ; and he answered, *' Govern men." And so he
bade the crier *' give notice that if any one wants to purchase
a master, there is one here for him." When he was ordered
not to sit down ; *• It makes no difference," said he, " for fish
are sold, be where they may.*' He used to say, that lie
wondered at men always ringing a dish or jar before buying
it, ,but being content to judge of a man by his look alone.
When Xeniades bought him, he said to him that he ought to
obey him even though he was his slave ; for that a physician
or a pilot would find men to obey them even though they
might be slaves.

V. And Eubulus says, in his essay entitled, The Sale of
Diogenes, that he taught the children of Xeniades, after
their other lessons, to ride, and shoot, and sling, and dart. And
then in the Gymnasium he did not permit the trainer to exer-
cise them after the fashion of athletes, but exercised them him-
self to just the degree sufficient to give them a good colour and
good health. And the boys retained in their memory many
sentences of poets and prose writers, and of Diogenes himself;
and he used to give them a concise statement of everything

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fl2B LIYES OF SKINSRT PHIIiOSOFHEBS.

in order to strengthen their memozy ; and at home he used to
UaxAi them to irait upon themselyes, contenting themeeWes
with plain food, and drinking mter. And he aoeastomed
them to cnt their hair cloee, and to eeeheir ornament, and to
go without tonics or rines, and to keep silent, lotting at
nothing except themselves as they walked along. He used,
also' to take them out hunting ; and they paid the greatest
attention and respect to Diogenes himself, and spoke well of
him to their parents.

VI. And the same author affirms, that he sfrew old in the
household of Xeniades, and that when he died lie was buried
by his sons. And that while he was living with him,
Xeniades once asked him how he should burv liim: and be
said, '* On my lace ;" and when he was asked why, he said,
** Because, in a little while, everything will be tunied upside
down." And he said this because the Macedonians were
already attaining power, and becoming a mighty people from
having been very inconsiderable. Once, when a man had
conducted him into a magnificent house, and had told him
that he must not spit, after hawking a little, he spit in his
face, saying that he could not find a worse place. But some
tell this story of Aristippus. Once, he called out, '* Holloa,
men." And when some people gathered round him in con-
sequence, he drove them away with his stick, saying, " I called
men, and not dregs." This anecdote I have derived ^from
Hecaton, in the first book of his Apophthegms. They also
relate that Alexander said that if he had not been Alexander,
he should have liked to be Diogenes. He used to call
avd'Trri^oi (cripples), not those who were dumb and blind, but
those who had no wallet (c?75a). On one occasion he went
half shaved into an entertainment of young men, as Metroclcs
tells us in his Apophthegms, and so was beaten by them. And
afterwards he wrote the names of all those who had beaten
him, on a white tablet, and went about with the tablet round
his neck, so as to expose them to insult, as they were
generally condemned and reproached for their conduct.

Pie used to say that he was the hound of those who were
praised ; but that none of those who praised them dared to
go out hunting with him. A man once said to him, " I
conquered men at the Pythian games on which he said, " I
conquer men, but you only conquer slaves." When some

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830

people 8ud to him, *<Toa are an old man, and should rest for
the remainder of jomr life f " Why so?'* replied he, suppose
I had run a long distance, ought I to stop when I was near
- the end, and not rather press on? ** Once, when he was in-
vited to a banquet, he said that he would notoome : for that the
day befinre no one had thanl^ him fat coming. He used to
go hare fiiot through the snow, and to do a number of other
things which hare been akeady mentioned. Once he atp
tempted to eat raw meat, but he could not digest it. On one
occasion he found Demosthenes, the orator, dining in an inn ;
and as he was slipping away, be said to him, You will now
be ever so much more in an inn."* Once, when some strangers
wished to see Demosthenes, he stretdied out his middle
finger, and said, This is the great demagogue of the Athenian
people.** When some one had dropped a kaf^ and was
ashamed to pick it up again, he, wishiiig to give him a lessont
tied a cord round tiie neck of a botde and dragged it all
through the Cenunicus. He used to say, that he imitated
the teachers of choruses, Ibr that they spoke too loud, in order
that the rest mi|^ eatdi the proper tone. Another of his
sayings, was that most men were within a finger's breadth of
being mad. If, then, any one were to walk wng» stretching
oat his middle finger, he will seem to be mad ; but if he puts
out his lore finger, he w91 not be thought so. Another of
his sayings was, that things of great value were <^ten sold for
nothing, and fric$ vend. Accordingly, that a statue would
fetch three thousand drachmas, and a bushel of meal only
two- obols ; and when Xentades had bought him, he said to
him, *' Come, do what you are ordered to.'* And when he
said —

" The etreams of sacred rivers now
Klin backwards to their source !"

" Suppose,** rejoined Diogenes, *• you had been sick, and
had bought a physician, could you refuse to be guided by
him, and tell him~

" The t^mms of saored liverB now
Bun baekwardsto ihoir Mdiroer

Once a man came to him, and wished to study philosophy
* Thk line ii tan Euripides, UtfdMb^n.

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LIVES OF EMINENT PHILOSOPHERS.

as hig pupil; and he gave him a saperda* and made liim
follow him. And as lie from shame threw it away and
departed, he soon afterwards met him and, laughing, said to
him, •* A saperda has dissolved your friendship for me." But
Diocles tells this storv in the following manner; that when
some one said to him, Give me a commission, Diogenes,'* he
canied him off, and gave him a halfpenny worth of cheese to
carry. And as he refused to carry it, ** See," said Diogenes,
" a halfpenny worth of clieese has hroken off our friendship.**
On one occasion he saw a child drinking out of its hands,
and so he threw away the cup which helonged to his wallet,
saying, That child hm hoaten me in simplicity." He also
threw away his spoon, after seeing a boy, when he had broken
bis vessel, take up his lentils with a crust of bread. And he
used to argue thus, — ** Everything belongs to the gods ; and
wise men are the friends of the gods. All things are in
common among friends ; therefore everything be longs to wise
men." Once he saw a woman falling down before the Gods in
an unbecoming attitude ; he, wishing to cure her of her super-
stition, as Zoilus of Perga tells us, came up to her, and said,
" Are you not afraid, 0 woman, to be in such an indecent atti-
tude, when some God may be behind you, for every place is
full of him?" He consecrated a man to ^sculapius, who was to
ran up and boat all these who prostrated themselves with their
faces to the ground : and he was in the habit of saying that
the tragic corse had come upon him, for that he was —

Houselefls and citiless, a piteous exile

BVom liis dear natiTe land ; a wandering beggar.

Scraping a pitlaooe poor firam day to di^.

And another of his sayings was that he opposed confidence
to fortune, nature to law, and reason to suffering. Once,
while he was sitting in the sun in the Craneum, Alexander
was standing by, and said to him, "Ask any favour you choose
of me." And he replied, Cease to shade me from the sun."
On one occasion a man w^as reading some long passages, and
when he came to the end of the book and sliowed that there
was nothing more written, " Be of good cheer, my friends,"
exclaimed Diogenes, I see land." A man once proved to

* The sapexda was the coracious (a kind of fifth) when salted.

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231

him syllogistically that be had horns, so he put his hand to
his forebeftd and said, " I do not see them.** And in a
similar manner he replied to one who had been asserting thai
there was no snch thing as motion, bj getting up and walking
9mtLj, When a man was talking about the heavenly bodies
and meteors, "Pray how many da^,** said he to him, **is it
ainoe you came down from heafen?"

A profligate eunuch had written on his house, " Let no evil
thing enter in.** Where," tauA Diogenes, " is the master of
the house going After having anointed his feet with per*
fome, he said that the ointment from his head mounted up
to heaven, and that ftom his feet up to his nose. When the
Athenians entreated him to be initiated in the Eleusinian
mysteries, and said that in the shades below the initiated had
the best seats ; " It will,** he replied, " be an absurd thing if
.^gesilans and Epaminondas are to live in the mud, and
some miserable wretches, who have been initiated, axe to be in
the islands of the blest** Some mice crept up to his table,
and he said, " See, even Diogenes maintains bos ikvonrites;'*
Once, when he was leaving ihe bath, and a man asked him
whether many men were bathing, he said, *' No ;** but when a
number of people came out, be confessed that there were a
great many* When Plato called him a dog, he said, Un-
doubtedly, Ibr I have come back to those who sold me.**

Plato defined man thus : Man is a two-footed, fiaatherlesa
animal,** and was much praised for the definition; so
Diogenes plucked a oock and brought it into his school, and*
said, ** TMs is Plato*s man.** On which account this addition
was made to the definition, '* With bioad flat nails.*' A man
onee asked him what was the proper time for supper, and he
made answer, If you are a rich man, whenever you please ;
end if you are a poor man, whenever you can." When he
was at Megara he saw some sheep carefully covered over with
skins, and the children running about naked; and so he
• said, It is better at Megm to be a man*s ram, than his son.*"
Aman onee struck him with a beam, and ihen said, "Take
care." **What,** said he, *'are you going to strike me
again?** He used to say that the demagogues were the ser-
vants of the people ; and garlands the blossoms of glory.
Having lighted a candle in the day time, he said, " I am
looking for a man.** On one occasion he stood under a foun*

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U\m Of BMINENT FHIIiOSOPHEBS.

tain, and as the bystanders were pitying bim, Plato, who was
present, said to tbein, "If you wisli really to show your pity for
him, come away;" intimating that he was only acting thus out
of a desire for notoriety. Once, when a man had struck him
with bis fist, bo jsaid," " 0 Hercules, what a strange thing that
I should be walking about with a helmet ou without know-
ing it!"

When Midias struck him with his fist and said, " There are
three thousand drachmas for you the next day Diogenes took
tlio cestus of a boxer and beat him soundly, and said, *' There
are three thousand drachmas for you." * When Lysias, the
drug-seller, asked bim whether he thought that there were
any Gods : " How," said he, " can T help thinking so, when I
consider you to be hated by them? " but some attribute this
reply to Theodorus. Once he saw a man purifying himself
by washing, and said to him, " Oh, wretched man, do not you
know that as you cannot wash away blunders in grammar by
purification, so, too, you cau no more eSajoe the errors o£ a li^
in that same manner ? "

He used to say that men were wrong for complaining of
fortune ; for that they aak of the Gods what appear to be good
things, not what are really so. And to those who were
alarmed at dreams he said, that they did not regard what they
do while they are awake, but make a great fuas about what
they imisj they see while they are asleep. Once, at the
Olympic games, when the herald proclaimed, " Dioxif^nis is
' the conqueror of men he said, He is the coaquevor of
sbves, 1 am the conqueror of men.'*

He was greatly beloved by the Athenians; accordingly,
when a youth had broken his cask they beat him, and gave
Diogenes another. And Dionysius,. the Stoic, says that after
the battle of Cboeronea he was tsken prisoner and brought
to Philip i and being asked who he was, replied, " A spy, to
spy upon your insatiability." And Philip marrelled at him
and let him go. Once, when Alexander had sent a letter to
Athens to Antipater, by the hands of^a man named Athlias,
he, being present, said, Athlias from Athlius, by means of

* This is probably an allusion to a prosecution instituted by Demos-
tbencs against Midiaa, which was afterwards compromised by Midiaa
payiug DumoBtheues thirty minse, or three thousand drachmae. See
Don. Or. oonl liidka

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DI0G£MS8.

^33

Athlias to Athlius * When Perdiccas threatened that he
would put him to death if he did not oome to him, he replied,
''That is nothing strange, for a scorpion or a tarantula could
do as much : yon iiad better threaten me that, if I kept away,
you should be veiy happy." He used constantly to repeat
with emphasis that an easy life had been given to man by
the Gods, but that it had been overlaid by their seeking for
honey, cheese-cakes, and ungaents, and things of that sort
On ivhich account he said to a man, who had lus shoes put on
by his servant, ''You are not thoroughly happy, unless be
also wipes your nose for jou ; and be will do this, if you are
crippled in your hands." On one occasion, when he had seen
the bievomnemones t leading off one of the stewards who had
stolen a goblet, he said, *' The great Sieves are caixying off
the little thie£" At another time, seeing a yonng man throw
ing stones at a oross, be said, Well done, yon inll be sure to
reach the mark." Once, too, some boys got round bim and
said, ''We are taking care that you do not bite us;** but he said,
" Be of good cbeer, my boys, a dog does not eat beef/* He
saw a man giving himself airs because be was clad in a lion's
skin, and said-to bim, " Do not go on disgracing the garb of
nature." When people were speaking of the happiness of
Calisthenes, and saying what ^lendid treatment 1^ received
from Alexander, be replied, " The man then is wretched, for
be is forced to break&st and dme whenever Alexander chooses.**
When be was in want of money, be said that be reclaimed it
from bis fiiends and did not beg Ibr it.

On one occasion be was woridng with bis bands in tbe
market-place, and said, " I msh I could rub my stomach in
the same way, and so avoM hunger.** When be saw a young
man gomg with some satraps to supper, be dragged bim away
and led Imn off to bis reUttionSy and bade them take care A
bim. He was once addressed by a youth beautifiQlly adorned,
who asked bim some queaticm ; and be refused to give bim
any answer, till be satisfied bim whether he was a man or a
woman. And on one occasion, when a youth was playing tbe

* Thkils a pun ujjoA the Bfaaflttiiy of AfUWs aime to the Chwek
a^lMtiTe dAXioc, wmok lignifiM inuMcmbl&

+ The tspofivrj^ovic were the sacred aecretariea or recorders sent by
each Amphictyonic state to the council along with their irvXaydpOQf (tho
actual deputy or mixuBter). ds & Qr, & Eng. Lez.^ in voc

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coltabus in the bath, he said to him, " The better you do it, the
worse you do it." Once at a banquet, some of the guests threw
him hones, as if he had been a dog ; so he, as he went away,
put up his leg against them as if he had been a dog in reahty.
He used to call the orators, and all those who speak for fame
TPtidv69(a^oi (thrice men), instead of T^i;ddXioi (thrice misera-
ble). He said that a rich but ignorant man, was like a sheep
with a golileii fleece. When he saw a notice on the house of
a profligate man, *' To be sold." " I knew," said he, '* that
you who are so incessantly drunk, would soon vomit up your
owner." To a young man, who was complaining of the num-
ber of people who sought his acquaintance, he 8aid> '* Do not
make such a parade of your vanity."

Having been in a very dirty bath, he said, "I wonder
where the people, who bathe here, clean themselves." AVhen
all the company was blaming an indifferent harp-player, he
alone praised him, and being asked why he did so, he said,
*• Because, though he is such as he is, he plays the harp and
does not steal." Ho saluted a harp player who was always
left alone by his hearers, with, '* Good morning, cock ; " and
when the man asked him, '* Why so ?" he 8aid< " Because you,
when you slug, make every one get up." When a young man
was one day making a display of himself, be, having filled the
bosom of his robe with lupins, began to eat them ; and when
the multitude looked at him, he said, that he marvelled at
their leaving the young man to lck>k at him." And when a
man, who was very superstitious, said to him, " With one
blow I will break your bead ; " And I," he replied, ** with
cue sneeze will make you tremble." When Hegesias en-

' treated him to lend bim one of his books, be said, " You are
a silly fellow, Hegesias, for you will not take painted figs, but
real ones ; and yet you overlook tbe genuine piactice of virtue,
and seek for what is merely written." A man once reproached
bim with bis baniBhment, and bis answer was, You wretched
mpn, that is what made me a philosopher." And when, on
another oocanoUt some one said to him, '* The people of
Sinope condemned you to banishment," be replied, And I
condemned them to remain where they were." Once be saw
a man who bad been victor at the Olympic games, feeding
(nfmra) sheep, and be said to him, You have soon come

' across my Mend from tbe Olympic games, to tbe Nemean."

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DI00ENS8.

235

When he was asked why athletes are insensible to pain, he
said, Because they are built up of pork and beef.**

He once asked for a statue ; and being questioned as to
his reason for doing so, he said, I am practising disappoint-
ment.** Once he was begging of some one (for he did this
Bt first out of actual want), he said» ** If yon have given to
any one else, give also to me ; and if you have never given
to any one, then begin with me,*' On one occasion, he was
asked by the 1ynint» What sort of brass was the best for a
statue?** and he replied, That of whidi the statues of Har-
modius and Aristogiton are made.** When he was asked
how Dionysius treats his Mends, he said, ** Like bags ; those
which are full he hangs up, and those which are empty he throws
away.** A man who was lately married put an inscription
on his house, " Hercules Gallinicus, the son of Jupiter, lives
here ; let no evil enter.** Ajid so Diogenes wrote in addition,
**An alliance is made after the war is over.** He used to
say that covetousness was the metropolis of all evils. Seeing
on one occasion a niofligate man in an inn eating oHves, he
said, ''If you had dined thus, you would not have supped
thus.** One of his apophthegms was, that good men were the
images of the Qods ; another, that love was the business of
those who had nothing to do. When he was asked what was
miserable in life, he answered, " An indigent dd man.** And
when the question was put to him, what beast inflicts the
worst bite, he said, Of wild beasts the sycophant, and of
tame animals the flatterer."

On one occasion he saw two Centaurs very badly painted ;
he said, " Which of the two is the worst ?**♦ He used to say
that a speech, the object of which was solely to please, was a
honeyed halter. He called the belly, the Charybdis of life.
Having heard once that Didymon the adulterer, had been
caught in the fact, he said, " He deserves to be huii<^^ by his
name."t When the question was put to him, why gold is of a
pale colour, he said, Because it has so many people plottiug

* There is a pfon here. Xt(pi» ii the word need for worae. Ghiroa
was also the most celebimted of the CSeiiteuf% the tutor of Achillea

t There ia a pun intended here ; as Diogenee proposed DidymvB a
fite somewhat aimi^i* to that of the beaver.

Cupiena evadere damno
Testiouloram.

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d36 LITB8 OF BUnrSNT PHIL0S0FHBR8.

against it" When he saw a woman in a litter, he said, " The
cage is not suited to the animal" And seeing a runaway
slave sitting on a well, he said, *' My boy« take care yon do
not fall in." Another time, he saw a little boy who was a
stealer of dothes from the baths, and said, "Are you going
£>r nngoents, {kf dkufifikdrtw)^ or to other garments (k^
cUx' l^ldrmy, Seeing some women hanging on oHve trees»
he said, ** I wish every tree bore similar ftm* At another
time, he saw a dothes* stealer, and addressed Inm thus : —

What moves thee, Bay, when sleep has dos'd the nfjbi,
To roam the silent fields in dead of uight ?
Art thou 8ome wretch by hopes of plunder led.
Through heaps of oamage to despoil the dead.*

When he was asked whether he had any girl or boy to wait on
him, he said, " No." And as his (jiiestioner asked further,
If then you die, who will bury you?" He repUed, "Who-
ever wants my house." Seeing a handsome youth sleeping
without anjr protection, he nudged him, and said, Wake
up: —

Xiz'd with the vulgar shall thy fate be Ibmid,
Herc^d ia the ha^ a vile diahonast wound.t

And he addressed a man who was buying delicacies at a
great expense

If ot long^ my son, will you €& earlik xvmaiiit
If aneh your dealingi.^

When Plato was discoursing about his ** ideas." and nting
the nouns " tableuess " and " ciipness;" O Plato!** ilitar*
rupted Diogenes, " see a table and a cup, but I see no table*
ness or cupness." Plato made answer, " That is natural
enough, for you have eyes, by which a cup and a table are
contemplated ; but you liavc not intellect, by which tableness
and cupness are seen."

On one occasion, he was asked by a certain person, '* What
sort of a man, 0 Diogenes, do jou think ;Socrates ?" and he

* Tbia ii taken iirom Homer, IL MT. BopeTa Veraloii, 45&

H* This is alao from Homer. IL $, 95. Pope s Yenion, 120.

X This is a parody on Homer, II 95, where the line ends ol*

Styo()6v(iQ — " if such IS your language," whiob Biog^ea here chaiigeB to

oV dyopdUmit if you buj such tiunga.

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DIOGENES.

237

said, " A madman.*' Another time, the question was put to
him, when a man ought to marry ? and his reply was.
Young men ought not to marry yet, and old men never
ought to marry at all." When asked what he would take to
let a man give him a blow on the head?" he replied, A
helmet/* Seeing a youth smartening himself up very care-
fully, he said to him, " If you are doing that for men, you are
, miserable ; and if for women, you are profligate." Once he
6aw a youth blushing, and addressed him, ** Courage, my
boy, that is the romplexion of virtue." Having once listened
to two lawyers, he condemned them both ; saying," That the
one had stolen the thing in question, and that the other had
not lost it." When asked what wine he liked to drink, he
said, ** That which belongs to another,*' A man said to him
one day, ** Many people laugh at you." " But I," he replied,
" am not laughed down." When a man said to him, that it
was a bad thing to live ; " Not to live," said he, " but to live
badly." When some people were advising him to make
search for a slave who had nm away," he said, '* It would be a
very absurd thing for Manes to be able ,to live without
Diogenes, but for Diogenes not to be able to live without
Manes." W^hen he was dining on olives, a cheese-cake was
brought in, on which he threw the olive away» saying

Keep well aloof, O rtsftiiger, from all tynnto.*

And presently he added : —

He drove ihe olive off (/tAsrttw ^ iK&av).f

When he was asked what sort of a dog he was, he replied,
"W^hen hungry, I am a dog of Melita; when satisfied, a
Molossian ; a sort which most of those who praise, do not
like to take out hunting with them, because of the labour of
keeping up with them; and in like manner, you cannot associate
with me, from fear of the pain I give you." The question
was put to him, whether wise men ate cheese-cakes, and he
replied, They eat everything, just as the rest of mankind."
When asked why people give to beggars and not to philoso-

* This IB a line of the FhoenSmie of Enripidee, r. 40.

i* The pun here is on the similarity of the noun IXaSp, m olive, to
the verb IXaav, to drive ; the words fidonitv d' iKaav acte of frequent
oocurrence in Homer.

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238 LIVES OP EMINENT PHILOSOFHCm

phers, he said, ** Because they think it possible that they
themselves may become lame and blind, but they do not
expect ever to turn out philubopbers." He once begged of a
covetous man, and as he was slow to give, he said, " Man, I
am asking you for something to maintain me (e/; r^o<priv and
not to bury mo {itg ra^T^v)." When some one reproached
him for having tampered with the coinage, he said, There
wag a time when I was such a person as you are now ; but
there never was when you were such as I am now, and never
will be." And to another person who reproached him on the
same grounds, he said, ** There were times when 1 did what I
did not wish to, but that is not the case now." When he went
to Myndus, he aaw some very large gates, but the city was a
small one, and so he said, Oh men of Myndus, shut jonr
gates, lest your city should steal out.** On one occasiont he
saw a man who had been detected stealing pniple, and so he
said:—

A purple death, and mighty fate o'ertook him-* *

When Cratems entreated him to come and visit him, he
said, " I would xather lick up salt at Athens, than enjoy
a luxurious table with Cratems." On one occasion, he met
Anaximenes, the orator, who was a &t man, and thus accosted
him ; " Pray give us, who are poor, some of your belly ; for
by so doing you will be relieved yourself, and you will assist
us.** And once, when he was discussing some point, Diogenes
held up a piece of salt fish, and drew off the attention of his
hearers ; and as Anaximenes was indignant at this, )i6 said,
**See, one pennyworth of salt fish has put an end to tiie
lecture of Anaximenes/* Being once reproached for eating in
the market-place, he made answer, 1 did, for it was in the
market-place that I was hungry/* Some authors also attri-
bute the following repartee to him. Plato saw him washing
vegetables, and so, coming up to him, he quietly accosted
him thus, If you had paid court to Dionysius, you would
not have been washing vegetables.'* *'And," he replied,
with equal quietness, "if you had washed vegetables, yon
would never have paid court to Dionysius.'* When a nam
said to him once, ** Most people laugh at you ; *' ** And very

• This line occurs, Horn. n. t. 88.

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I>IOG£N£S,

230

likely,'* he replied, '* the asses laugh at them ; but they do not
regard the asses, neither do I regard them." Once he saw a
youth studying philosophy, and said to him, ** Well done ;
inasmuch as you are leading those who admire your person
to contemplate the beauty of your mind.'*

A certain person was admiring tho offerings in the temple
at Samothrace,* and he said to him, " They would have been
much more numerous, if those who were lost had offered them
instead of those who were saved ; " but some attribute this
speech to Diagoras the Theliau. Once he saw a handsome
youth going to a banquet, and said to him, *' You will come
back worse ; " and when he the next day after the

banquet said to him, ** I have left the banquet, and was no
worse for it ;" he replied, You were not Chiron, but Eury-
tion."+ He was begging once of a very ill-tempered man, and
as he said to him, " If you can persuade me, I will give you
something;" he replied, ** If I could persuade you, I would
beg you to hang yourself." Ho was on one occasion returning
from Lacediemon to Athens ; and when some one asked him,

Whither are you going, and whence do you come?'* he said,
"I am going from the men's apartments to the women's.'*
Another time he was returning from the Olympic games, and
when some one asked him whether there had been a great
multitude there, he said, "A great multitude, but very few
men." He used to say that debauched men resembled figs
growing on a precipice ; the fruit of which is not tasted by men,
but devoured by crows and vultures. When Phryne had dedi-
cated a golden statue of Venus at Delphi, he wrote upon il^

From the profligacy of the Greeks."

Once Alexander the Great came and stood by him, and
said, ** I am Alexander, the great king." ** And I," said he,
" am Diogenes the dog." And when he was asked to what
actions of his it was owing that he was called a dog, he said,
** Because I fawn upon those who give me anything, and bark
at those who give me nothing, and bite the rogues." On one
occasion he was gathering some of the fruit of a fig-tree, and

♦ The Samothraciaa Goda were Gkida of the sea, and it was custom-
ary for those who had been uTed from shipwreck to make them an
off ering of some part of what they had eaved ; and of their hair, if th^

had .saved nothing but their lives,
t Eur^iiion was another oi the Centaurs^ who was killed by Hercules.

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240 LIVES OF EMINENT PHILOSOPHERS.

when the man who was guarding it told him a man hung him-
self oil this tree tlie other day, " I, then," said he, " will now
purify it." Onee he saw a man who had been a conqueror at
the Olympic games looking very often at a courtesan ; ** Look,"
said he, *' at that warlike ram, who is taken prisoner by the
first girl he meets." One of his sayings was, that good-look-
ing courtesans were like poisoned mead.

On one occasion he was eating his dinner in the market-
place, and the bystanders kept constantly calling out " Dqg ; '*
but he said, " It is you who are the dogs, who stand around
me while I am at duiner." When two effeminate fellows were
getting out of his way, he said, " Do not be afraid, a do^ does
not eat beetroot.** Being once asked about a debauched boy,
as to what country he came from, he said, HeisaTegean."*
Seemg an unskilful wrestler professing to heal a man he said.
What are you about, are you in hopes now to overthrow those
who fonnerlj conquered you ?** On one occasion he saw the
son of a courtesan throwing a stone at a crowds and said to
him, "Take care, lest you hit your father." When a boy
showed him a sword that he had received from one to whom
he had done some discreditable service, he t<^d him, " The
sword is a good sword, but the handle is infamous.** And when
' some peo^ were pnusuag a man who had given him some-
thing, ne said to them, " And do not you praise me who was
worthy to reoeiTe it?*' He was asked by some one to give
him back his cloak; but he replied, " If you gave it me, it is
mine ; and if you only lent it me, I am using it.** A suppo-
sititious son (u«o^«Xi/ftftio() of somebody onoe said to him, that
be had gold in his cloak ; No doubt," said he, ** that is the
veiy reason why I sleep with it under my head (tKrojSfjSXij-
liSmi^r When he was asked what adyantage he had derived
firom philosophy, he replied, *' If no other, at least tins, that I
am prepared f(xr eyexy kind of fortune.** The question was pot
to him what countryman he was, and he replied, " A Citizen of

* This is a pim^on the similarity of the sound, Tegea, to riyof, a
brothel.

f The Chraek is tpmwv difo/*ficvoc trph^ rhv ioava^xriv i^rj, — ipavoQ
mm not only a subscription or contribution for tiie support of the poor,

but also a club or society of Bubpcribers to a common fund for kocj
purpose, sopial, commercial, or charitable, or especially politicRl. . .
On ^e various tpavoi^ v. Bockh, P. E. i. 828. Att Process, p. s. 99.
L,dt S,in voc, tpavoQ,

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DIOOSNES.

the world.** Some men were sacrificing to the Gods to pievsil
on tham to send them sons, and ho said* And do you not sacri-
fice to procnie sons of a particular chaiaoter ?** - Once he was
asking the presid^t of a society for a eontiibution, and said to
him:'— -

, " Spoil sQ the ne^ hot keep your hands firom Heotor."

He nsed to say that courtesans were the queens of kings ;
for that thev askisd them for whatever they chose. When the
Athenians had voted that Alexander was Bacdios, he said to
them, Vote, too, that I am Serapis.** When a man re-
proached him forgoing into unclean places, he said, Tho sun
too penetrates into privies, hut is not polluted by them."
When supping in a temple, as some dirty loaves were set
before him, he took them up and threw tiiem away, saying
tliut nuthiiig dirty ou<fht to come into a temple ; and when some
one said to him, " You philosophize without being possessed
of uiiy knowledge," he said, " If I only pretend to wisdom, that
is philosophizing." A man once brought him a Loy, and said
that he was a very clever child, and one of an admirable dis-
position." "Wliat, then,'* said Diogenes, "does he want of
me ? *' He used to say, that those who utter virtuous senti-
ments but do not do them, are no better than harps, for that
a harp has no hearing or feeling. Once he was going into a
theatre while every one else was coming out of it ; and when
asked why he did so, ** It is," said he, '* what I have been
doing all my life." Once when he saw a young man putting
on effeminate airs, he said to him, " Are you not ashamed to
have worse plans for yourself than nature had for you ? for
slie has made you a man, but you are trjdng to force yourself
to be a woman." When he saw an ignorant man tuning a
psaltery, he said to him, " Are you not ashamed to be
arranging proper sounds on a wooden instrument, and not
arranging your soul to a proper life ? " When a man said to
him, ** I am not calculated for philosophy," he said, "Why then
do you live, if you have no desire to live properly?" To a
man who treated his father with contempt, he said, "Are you
not ashamed to despise him to whom you owe it that you
have it in your power to give yourself airs at all?" Sicing
a handsome young man chattering in an uuseemly mamier,

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34i& UYBS OF SHINBNT FmiiOBOPHlB&

he stdd, " Are you not ashamed to dxaw a sword eat of lead
out of a soabliard of ivoiy?*' Being once lepfoached for
drinkiiig in vintner's shop, he said, I have my hair out,
too, in a barber's." At another time, he was attacked for
having aeoepted a doak fiom Antipater, hat he replied:—

_ " Refuse not thou to heed
The gifts wnich from the mighty Gods proceed."*

A man once struck him with a broom, and said, " Take'care
so he stxuck him in return with his staff, and said, Take
care."

He once said to a man who was addressing anxious en-
treaties to a courtesan, '* What can you wish to obtain, yon
wretched man, that you had not better be disappointed in
Seeing a man reeking all over with unguents, be said to
liim, " Have a care, lest the fragrance of your head give a
bad odour to your life." One of his sayings was, that
servants serve their masters, and that wicked men are the
slaves of their appetites. Being asked why slaves were
called dvd^diroda, he replied, " Because they have the feet of
men (rovg irSdas avd^uiv), and a soul such as you who are
asking this question." He once asked a profligate fellow for
a mina ; and when he put the question to him, why be asked
others for an obol, and him for a mina, he said, ** Because I hope
to get something from the others another time, but the Gods
ah)ne know whether I shall ever extract anything from you
again." Once he was reproached for asking £&ToarB, while
Plato never asked for any; and he said ; —

.''He asks aa well sb I do^ but he does it
Bendmg bk headf that no one ebe may beer/*

One day he saw an unskilful archer shooting ; so he went
and sat down by the target, saying, " Now I shall be out of
harm's way." He used to say, that those who were in love
were disappointed in regard of the pleasure they expected.
When he was asked whether death was an evil, he replied.

How can that be an evil which we do not feel when it is
present ?*' When Alexander was once standing by him, and
saying, " Do not you fear me?" He replied, " No ; for what
are you, a good or an evil ? '' And as he said that ^he was

* Horn. IL r. 65.

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DIOGENES,

good, " Who, then," said Diogenes, " fears the good ?" He used
to say, that education was, for the young sobriety, for the old
comfort, for the poor riches, and for the rich an ornament."
When Didymus the adulterer was once trying to cure the eye
of a young girl (xo^tjj), he said, " Take care, lest when you
are curing the eye of the maiden, you do not hurt the pupil."*
A man once said to him, that his friends laid plots against
him ; " What then," said he, " are you to do, if you must look
upon both your friends and enemies in the same light ?"

On one occasion he was asked, what was the most excellent
thing among men ; and he said, ** Freedom of speech."
He went once int6 a school, and saw many statues of the
Muses, but very few pupils, and said, *' Gods, and all my
good schoolmasters, you have plenty of pupils." He was in
the habit of doing everything in public, whether in respect of
Venus or Ceres ; and he used to put his conclusions in this
way to people : '* If there is nothing absurd in dining, then
it is not absurd to dine in the market-place. But it is not
absurd to dine, therefore it is not absurd to dine in the
market-place." And as he was continually doing manual work
in public, he said one day, " Would that by rubbing my belly
I could get rid of hunger." Other sayings also are attriliuted
to him, which it would take a long time to enumerate, there
is such a multiplicity of them.

He used to say, that there were two kinds of exercise : '
that, namely, of the mind and that of the body ; and that the
latter of these created in the mind such quick and agile"
phantasies at the time of its performance, as very much facili-
tated the practice of virtue ; but that one was imperfect
without the other, since the health and vigour necessary for
the practice of what is good, depend equally on both mind
and body. And he used to allege as proofs of this, and of the
ease which practice imparts to acts of virtue, that people could
see that in the case of mere common working tmdes, and other
employments of that kind, the artisans arrived at no incon-
siderable accuracy by constant practice ; and that any one
may see how much one flute player, or one wrestler, is superior
to another, by his own continued practice. And that if these

* There le apon here ; Koprj meana both girl" and ''the pupil of
the eye." And ^Odp^J*io destroj," is aUo eepedattj lued for ** to
•eduoe."

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244 LIVES OF EMINENT FHILOS0FHEB&

men transferred the same training to their minds they would
not labour in a profitless or imperfect manner. He used to
sav also, that tliere was nothing whatever in life which could
be brought to perfectiou without practice, and that that alone
was able to overcome every obstiicle ; that, therefore, as we
ought to repudiate all useless toils, and to apply ourselves to
useful labours, and to live happily, we are only uuliappy in
consequence of most exceeding folly. For the very contempt
of pleasure, if we only inure ourselves to it, is very pleasant;
and just cis they who are accustomed to " live luxuriously, are
brought very unwillingly to adopt the coutraiy system ; so they
who have been originally inured to that apposite system* feel
a sort of pleasure in the contempt of pleasure.

This used to be the language which he held, and he used to
show in practice, really altering men's habits, and deferring in
all tilings rather to the principles of nature than to those of
law^ ; saying that he was adopting the same fasliion of life as
Hercules had, preferring nothing in the world to liberty ; and
saying that everything belonged to the wise, and advancing
arguments such as I mentioned just above. For instance :
every thing belongs to the Grods ; and the Gods are friends to
the wise ; and all the property of fdends is held in commoii ;
therefore efverything belong to the wise. He also argued
about the law, that without it there is no possibili^ of a
constitudon being maintained ; for without a dty there can be
nothing orderly, hut a city is an orderly thing ; and without a
city there can be no Isw ; therefore law is order. And he
played in the same manner with the topics of noble birth,
and reputation, and all things of that kind, saying that they
were all veils, as it were, for wickedness ; and that that was
the only proper constitution which consisted in order. An-
other of his doctrines was that all women ought to he possessed
in common ; and he said that maniage was a nuUi^, and that
the proper way would be for every man to live with her whom
he could persuade to agree wi& him. And on the same
principle he said, that all people's sons ou^t to belong to
eveiy one in common ; and tliere was nothing intolerable in
the idea of taking anything out of a temple, or eating any
animal whatever, and that there was no impiety in tasting even
human flesh ; as is plain from the habits of foreign natioDS ;
and he said that this principle might be conrectly extended to

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245

every case and every people. For he said that in reality every-
thing was a combination of all things. For that in bread
there was meat, and in vegetables there wjis bread, and so
there were some particles of all other bodies in everything,
communicating by invisible passages and evaporating.

VII. And he explains this theor}- of his clearly in the
Thyestes, if indeed the tragedies attributed to him are really
his composition, and not rather the work of Philistus, of
-^gina, his intimate friend, or of Pasiphon, the son of Lucian,
who is stated by Phavorinus, in his [Jnivenal History, to
have written them after Diogenes* death.

VIII. Music and geometry, and astronomy, and all things
of that kind, he neglected, as useless and unnecessary. But
he was a man very happy in meeting Arguments^ as is plain
from what we have already said.

TX. And he bore being sold with a most magnanimous
spirit For as he yms sailing to u£gina, and was taken
prisoner by some pirates^ under the command of Scirpalus, he
was carried oif to Crete and sold; and when the Circe asked
him what art he understood* he said, " That of governing
men." And presently pointing oat a Corinthian» very carefully
dressed, (the same Xeniades whom we have mentioned before),
he said, ''Sell me to that man; for he wants a master."
Accordingly Xeniades bought him and carried him away to
Corinth ; and then he made him tutor of his sons, and com-
mitted to him the entire management of his house. And he
behaved himself in every a&ur in such a manner, that
Xeniades, when looking over his property, said, *'A good
genius has come into my house." And Cleomenes, in his
book which is called the Schoolmaster, says, that he wished
to ransom all his relations, but that Diogenes told him that
they were all fools ; for that lions did not become the slaves
of those who kept them, but, on the contrary, those who main*
taaned lions were their slaves. For that it was the part of a
slave to fear, bat that wild beasts were formidable to men.

Xm And the man bad the gift of persaasioii in a wondeiM
degree ; so that he could easily overoome any one by his argu-
ments. Accordingly, it is said that an .^ginetan of the name
of Onesicrittts, having two sons, sent to Athens one of them,
whose name was AndrostheneSy and that he, after having
heard Diogpnes lecture, remained thm; and that after

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iM UVBB OF SmNINT PHOOeOFHSBa

that, he sent the elder» PhiliseuBt ivho has beeD already men-
tioned, and that Philiacos was charmed in the same manner.
And last of all, he came himself, and then he too remained,
no less than bis sen* studying philosophy at the feet of
Diogenes* So great a charm was there in the disoonrses of
Diogenes. Another pupil of his was Phocion, who was sur-
named the Good; and Stilpon, the Megarian, and a great
many other men of eminence as statesmen.

XI. He is said to haye died when he ym nearly nine^
years of age; but there ace di£Eerent accounts given of Ins
death. For some say that he ate an ox's foot raw, and was in
consequence seized with a bilious attack, of which he died ;
others, of whom Cercidas, a Megalopolitan or Cretan, is one,
say that he died of holding his breath for seyeral days ; and
Oercidas speaks thus of bm in bis Meliamfaios :~

He, that Sinopian who bore the stick,
Wore his cIo^l doubled, and in th' open air
Dined without washing, would not bear wHh Ufb
A moment longer : but he shat his teeth,
And held his breath. £[e truly was the son
Of Jove, and a most beayeBJj*muided dog,
The wise Dio^meat

Others say that he, while intending to distribute a polypus to
bis dogs, was bitten bj tbem through the tendon of bis fi)ot»
and so died. But bis own greatest friends, as Antisthenes
tells us in bis Successions, -father sanction the story of Ids
having died from holding bis breath. For be used to live in
UbiB Craneum, which was a Gymnasium at the gates of Corinth*
And bis friends came acooraing to their custom, and found
him with bis head ooTCied ; and as they did not suppose that
he was asleep, for he was not a man much sulgeet to the
influeuoe of niffht or sleep, they drew away his cloak from his
&ce, and found him no longer breathing ; and they thou^t
that he bad done this on purpose, wi^ng to escape the
remaining portion of his life.

On this there was a quarrel, as they say, between his friends*
as to who should buiy him, and they even Came to Uows ; but
when the elders and chief men of the cir^ came there, tLej
say that he was buried by tbem at die gate wbich leads to
the Isthmus* And they placed over him a pillar, and on that
a dog in Parian marble. And at a later period hia fellow

Lviyiiizuo by <jO

DIOOBNSB.

dtizens honouied bim mth brazen statues, and pat this
iiisoription on them

E'en brass by lapse of time doth old becoaM^
But there is no such tirae as shall e£b^
Tour lasting glory, wise Diogenes ;
Since you adone did teaeh to mea the «rt
Of a contented life : the surest paiii
To glory and • iMting hAppioMS.

We ourselves have also witteu an epigram on him in the
proceleusmatic metre.

A. T«ill me, IMogenai^ tell mc tnie, I pray,

How did you die ; what fate to Pluto bore you ?
Thid savage bite of an envious dog did )uU me.

Some, how0?er, si^ that when he vtbs dying, he ordered
his friends to throw his corpse awa^ without burying it, so
that every beast might tear il^ or else to throw it into a ditch,
and sprinkle a little dust over it. And others say that his
iiyunctions were, that he should be thrown into the Ilissus ;
that so he might be useful to his brethren. But Demetrius,
in his treatise on Men of the Same Name, says that Diogenes
died in Corinth the same day that Alexander died in Babylon.
And he was already an old man, as early as the hundred and
thirteenth olympiad.

XII. The following hooks are attributed to him. The
dialogues entitled th^ Cephalion ; the Icthyas ; the Jackdaw ;
the Leopard; the People of the Athenians; the Republic;
one called Moral Art; one on Wealth; one on Love; the
Theodorua ; the Hypsias ; the Aristarchus ; one on Death ;
a volume of Letters ; seven Tragedies, the Helen, the
Thyestes, the Hercules, the Achilles, the Medea, the Chiysip-
pus, and the Qildippus.

But Sosicratey, in the first book of his Successions, and
Satyrus, in the fourth book of his Lives, both ahscrt tliat none
of all these are the genuine composition of Diogenes. And
Satyrus affirms tljat the tragedies are the work of Philiscus,
the ^ginetan, a friend of Diogenes. But Sotion, in his
seventh book, says that these are the only genuine works of
Diogene.s : a dialogue on Virtue ; another on the Good ;
another on Love; the Beggar; the Solmaeus ; the Leopard;
the Cassauder ; the Cephalion ; and that the Aristarchus, the

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248 LIVES OF EMINENT PHILOSOPHEfiS.

Sisyphus, the (janymede, a volume of Apophthegms, and
anotlier of Letters, are all the work of Philiscus.

XIII. There were five persons of the name of Diogenes.
The first a native of Apollonia, a natural philosopher; and
the heginninfT of his treatise on Natural Philosophy is as
follows : " It appears to me to he well for every one who
commences any kind of philosophical treatise, to lay down
some undeniable principle to. start with.** The second was a
Sicymian, who wrote an account of Peloponnesus. The third
"was the man of whom wo have Leon speaking. The fourth
was a Stoic, a native of Seleucia, l)ut usually called a Baby-
lonian, from the proximity of Seleucia to Babylon. The
fifth was a native of Tarsus, who wrote on the subject of some
questions concerning poetry which he endeavours to solve.

XIV. Athenodorus, in the eighth book of his Conversations,,
says, that the philosopher always had a ft>*inittg appearaiioe».
from his habit of anoiatisg himselfl

LIFE OF MONIMUS.

I. MoNiMUS was a Synicusan, and a pupil of Diogenes, but
also a slave of some Corinthian money-changer, as Sosicrates
tells us. Xeniades, who bought Diogene's, used often to come
to him, extolling the excellency of Diogenes both in actions
and words, till he excited a great affection for the man in the
mind of Monimus. For he immediately feigned madness,
and threw about all the money and all the coins that were
on the table, until his master discarded him, and then he
straightway went to Diogenes and became his pupil. He also
followed Crates the Cynic a good deal, and devoted himself to
the same studies as he did ; and the sight of tbis conduct of
bis made his master all the more think him mad.

II. And he was a very eminent man, so that even Menander,
the comic poet, speaks of him; accordingly, in one of his
plajs, namely in the Hippocomus, he mentions him thus

There is a man, 0 Philo, named Monimus,
A wiBe muk, though but litdo known, and one

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ONSSICBITUa

249

' Who bears a wallet at his back, and is not

Content witk one hot tiuree. He never spoke
A single sentenoe, bj great Joyo I ww9tap.

Like this one, " Know thyself," or any other

Of the oft-quoted proverba : all Ruch sayingB
He Bcorned, as he did heg his way thrrmgh dirt,
Teachmg tiiiit ail opinion is but vanity.

But he ims a man of saoh giavitjr tbat he deqpised gloiy, and
CKMu^ht only for troth.

III. He wrote some jests mingled mth serious treatises*
and two essays on the Appetites, and an £zhortation.

LIFE OF ONESIOMTUa

I. OsNESicRiTUs is Called by some authors' an ^ginetan,
but Demetrius the Magnesian affirms that he was a native of
Astypalsea. He also was one of the most eminent of the
disciples of Diogenes.

II. And he appears in some points to resemble Xenophon.
i or Xenophon joined in the expedition of Cyrus, and Onesi-
critus in that of Alexander ; and Xenophon wrote the
Cyropsedia, and Onesicritus wrote an account of the education
of Alexander. Xenophon, too, wrote a Panegyric on Cyrus,
and Onesicritus one on Alexander. They were also both
similar to one another in style, except that a copyist is
naturally inferior to the original.

III. Menander, too, who wassumamed Diymus,wasapiipil
of Diogenes, and a great admirer of Homer: and so was
Hegeseeus of Sinope^ who was nicknamed Clocos, and Philiscus
the Mffmtaskf as we have said before.

LIFE OF CRATES.

1. 0aA3n8WB8aThebanhybir&, andthesonof Ascondns.
He also was one of the eminent disciples of the Cjnio. But
Hippobotos asserts that he was not a pupil of Diogenes, bat
of Biyson the Achaan.

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260 LIVES OF EMINENT PHILOSOPHEBa ,

II. There are the following sportive lines of his quoted :—

The waves surround vain Peres' firuitfol boSI^
And fertile acres crown the sea-bom isle ;
Land which no parasite e'er dares invade^
Or lawd seducer of a hapless maid ;
It bettn figi^ hntuA, thyme» garliift savoury charms^
Gifts which ne'er tempt men to detested arms,
Th<qr'dxatb«r lor gold than gkoT's ~

Thexa is also an aooount-book of his much spoken which
i8 drawn up in such terms as these :— -

Put down the cook for minas half a score,
Put down the doctor for a drachma more :
Five talents to the flatterer ; some smoke
To the adviser, an obol and a cloak
For the philosopher ; fat th^ willing nymph,
Atslflot . • • •

He was also nicknamed Door-opener, because he used to
enter every house and give the inmates advice. These lines,
too» are his :—

AH thk I iMint and ponderad in my ndnd.
Drawing deep wisdom from tlie UnMa kandy
But all the rest is vamtj.

There is a line, too, which tells us that he gained from
philosophy : —

A peck of lupins, and to care for nobody.

This, too, is attributed to him:—

Hunger checks love ; and should it not^ time does.
If both should fail you, then a halter choose.
»

III. He flourished about the hundred and thirteenth

olympiad.

IV. Antisthenes, in his Successions, says that he, having
once, in a certain tragedy, seen Telephus holding a date basket,
and in a miserable plight in other respects, betook himself to
the Cynic philosopliy ; and having tmmed his patrimony into
money (for he was of illustrious extraction), lie collected three
hundred talents by that means, and divided them among the
dtizens. And after that he devoted himself to philosophy
with sudi eagerness, that even Philemon llie oomio poet
mentions him. Accordingly he says : — ^

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GRA.TBS.

251

And in the Bummer he'd a phag-gy govm.
To ium'e liimaelf to hardaMp : in tlitj winter
Ho WOKO 9i6t6 rags.

But Diodes says that it was Diogenes who persuaded him
to discard all bis estate and his flocks, and to throw his
money into the sea ; and he says further, that the house of
Crates was destroyed hy Alexander, and that of Hipparchia
under Philip. And he would y^iy fireqoently drive away with
his staff those of his relations who came after him, and
endeavoured to dissuade him fiom his design ; and he remained
immoveahle.

y. Demetrius, the Magnesian, relates that he deposited his
money with a hanker, making an agreement with him, that if
his sons tozlied out ordinary ignorant people, he was then to
restore it to them ; but if Ibey became philosophers, then he
mis to divide.it among the people, for that they, if they were
philosophers, would have no need of anything. And Eratos-
thenes tells us that he had by Hippaicfaia, whom we shall men-
lion hereafter, a son whose name was Pasicles, and that when
he grew iqp, he took him to a brothel kept by a female eUave,
and told mm that that was all the marriage that his &ther
designed for him ; but that marriages which resulted in adul-
tery were themes for tragedians, and had eadle and bloodshed
Ibr tiieir prizes ; and the marriages of those who lived with
conrtesans were sulgects for the comic poets, and often pro-
duced madness as the result of debauchei^and drunkenness.

VI. He had also a brother named JPasides, a pupil of
Enclides.

YII. Phavorifliis, in the second book of his Commentaries,
relates a witly saying of his; Ibr he says, that once, when he
was begging a &vonr of the master of a gymnasium, on the
behalf of some acquaintance, he touched ma tiugfas ; and as

he expressecT his indignation at this, he said, " Why, do they

not belong to you as well as your knees?" He used to say
that it was impossible to find a man who had never done wrong,
in the same way as there was always some worthless seed iu
a pomegranate. On one occasion he provoked Nicodromus,
the harp-play or, and received a black eye from him ; so he
put a plaster on bis forubead and wrote upon it, "Nicodromus
did this." He used to abuse prostitutes designedly, for the
purpose of praciibing himself in enduring reproaches. When

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LIVES OF EMIKEirT PHILOfiOFHEBa

Demetrius Phalereus sent him some loaves and wine, he
attacked him for his present, saying, *' I wish that the ioun-
tains bore loaves ; " and it is notorious that he was a water
drinker.

He was once reproved by the sediles of the Athenians, for
wearing fine Hnen, and so he replied, ** I will show you Theo-
phrastus also clad in fine linen." And as they did not believe
him, he took them to a barber's shop, and showed him to them
as he was being shaved. At Thebes he was once scourged by
the master of the Gymnasium, (though some say it was by
Euthycrates, at Corinth), and dragged out by the feet; but he
did not care, and quoted the line ; —

I feel, 0 mighty chief, yoor matchless might, '
Dnggtdy foot fint, downward from th' ethereal height.*

Bat Dioclas says that it was by Menedenmg, of Ezetria,*
lihat he was dragged in this manner, for that as be iros a
handsome man, and supposed to be very obsequious to Ascle-
piades, the Phliasian, Crates toucbed bis thighs and said, Is
Asclepiades within?" And Menedemus was very much
offended, and dragged him out, as has been already said ; and
then Crates quoted the above-cited line.

VIII. Zeno, the Cittiican, in his Apophthegms, says, that
he once sewed up a sheep s llccce in his cloak, without thiuk*
ing of it ; and he was a veiy ugly man, and one who excited
laughter when he was taking exercise. And he used to say,
when he put up his hands, " Courage, Crates, as far as your
eyes and the rest of your body is concerned ;—

IX. ** For you shall sea those who now ridicule you, con-
vulsed with disease, and envying your happiness, and accusing
themselves of slothfulness." One of his sayings was, " That
a man ought to study philosophy, up to the point of looking
on generals and donkey-drivers in the same light.** Another
was, that those who live with flatterers, are as desohite as
calves when in the company of wolves ; for that neither the
one nor the other are with those whom they ought to he, or
their own kindred, but only with those who are plotting
against them.

X. When he felt that he was dying, he made verses on
himself, saying

* Thifl ii a pafody on Hoaier. TL 591. Pipe's Yenion, 760,

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METROCLES. 253

You're going, nobb hunchback, you are going
To Pluto's realms bent doable by old agei

Eor he was humpbacked from age.

XI. When Alexander asked him whetlier he wished to see
the restoration of his countr}% he said, *' What would be the
use of it ? for perhaps some other Alexander would come at
some future time aad destroy it again.

But poverty and dear obaoori^,

Are what a prudent man should think his county ;
For theae e'ei^ f ortone oaa*t deprive him o&"

He also scud that he was : —

A fellow countryman of wise Diogenes,
Whom OTen envy never had attacked.

Menander, in his Twin-^sister, mentions him thns

For you will walk with me wrapped in your doal^
As hifl wile used to with the Cynic Crates.

XII. He gare his daughter to his pupils^ as he himself
used to say : —

To have and keep on trial for a month.

LIFE OF METROOLES-

I. Metrocles was the brother of Hipparchia ; and though
he had formerly been a pupil of Theophiastus, he had
profited so little by his instructions, that once, thinking
that, wliile listening to a lecture on philosophy, he had dis-
graced himself by his inattention, he fell into despondency,
and shut himself up in bis house, intending to starve himself
to death. Accordingly, when Crates heard of it, he came to
him, having been sent for; and eating a number of lupins, on
purpose, he persuaded him by numbers of arguments, that he
had done no harm ; for that it was not to be expected that a
man should not indulge his natural inclinations and habits ;
and he comforted him by showing him that he, in a nmilar
esse, would certainly have behaved in a similar manner.

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254

LIVES OF EMINENT PHILOSOPHERS.

And after that, he became a pupil of Crates, and a man of
great eminence as a philosopher.

II. He burnt all his writings, as Hecatou teUs us in the
first book of his Apophthegms, and said; —

Theie ai» tl» phanfaima of infatnal dmma ;

As if he meant that they were all nonsense. But some say
that it was the notes which he had taken of the lectures of
Theophrastus which he burut, quoting the following verse : —

y1lloH^ dfftw aflw, *taB Th«tb aakB your aid.*

III. He used to say that some things could be bought
with money, as for instance a house ; and some with time and
industry, as education ; that wealth was mischievous ; if a
man did not use it properly.

* IV. He died at a great age, having suffocated himself.

V. His pupils were Theomentus and Cleomenes, Deme-
trius of Alexandria, the son of Theombrotus, Timarchus of
Alexandria, the son of Cleomenes, and Echecles, of Ephesus.
Not but what Echecles was also a pupil of Theombrotus; and
Menedemus, of whom we shall speak hereafter, was his pupil.
Menippus, of Sinope, too, was a very eminent pei-son in his
school.

LIFE OF niPPARCfllA.

I. HippABCHiA, the sister of Metiodes^irasdiam
others, by tlie doctrines this school.

II. Both she and Hetrodes were natives of Maronea. She
fell in love with both ^e doctrines and manners of Ciates,
and could not be diverted icom her regard toat him, by either
the wealth, or high birth, or personal beauty, d any of her
suitors, but Crates was e?exylliing to her; and she threatened
her parents to make away with herself, if she were not given
in marriage to him. Crates accordingly, being entreated bj
her parents to dissuade her from this resolntion, did all he

• Horn. IL £• 896. Pope's ▼«nu>% 460.

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HIPPAECHU.

ooold ; and at last, as he could not persuade ber, he me up*
and placing all his fbndtiire before ber, be said, "This is Ibe
bridegroom whom you are choosing, and ibis is the whole of
bis property ; consider these &ct8, for it will not be possible
for you to become bis partner, if you do not also apply your-
self to tbe same studies, and conform to the same luibits
that be does.* But the girl chose him ; and assuming tibe
same dress that he wore, went about with him as her hosband,
and appeared with him in public ereiywbere, and went to
aU entertainments in his company.

III. And once when she went to sop mtb Lysimacbus, she
attacked Theodorus, who ms sumamed the Atheist ; propos-
ing to him the following sophism; "What Theodoras could
not be called -mong for doing, that same thing Hipparchia
ought not to be called wrong for doing. But Theodoras does
no wrong tvben be beats himself; therefore Hipparchia does
no wrong when she beats Theodoras." He made no reply to
what she said, but only pulled her dothes about ; but Hippar-
diia was neither offeaded nor ashamed, as many a woman
would baye been ; but when be said to her :—

" Who is the woman who has left the shuttle

So uear the warp T*

•* I, Theodorus, am that person," she replied ; " but do I
appear to you to have come to a wrong decision, if I devote
that time to philosophy, which I otherwise should have spent
at the loom?" Arid these and many other sayings are
reported of this female philosopher.

IV. There is also a volume of letters of Crates t extant, in
which he philosophizes most excellently ; and in style is very
little inferior to Plato. He also wrote some tragedies, which
are imbiiod with a very sublime spirit of philoeo]^, of which
the following lines are a specimen i-^

*T\a not one town, nor one poor nngle homo^
That is my country ; but in every land
Bach city and each dwelling seems to me^
A place for my reception ready mada

And he died at a great age, and was buned in BoBotia,

* This Une is from the Bacchae of Emnpides, 1228.

"t* From this last parac^raph it is infoiTed by some critics, that origin-
ally the preceding memoirs of Ciataj, Metrooies, and Hippacohiay
formed only one chapter or book.

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256 LIVES OF EMU^ENT PKILOSOPHEBa

LIFE OF HENIPFUS.

I. Mentfpub was also a Cynic, and a Phoeoidan by descent,
a slaTs by birth, as Acbaicus tells us in his Ethics; and Diodes
informs us tht^ his master was a native of Pontus, of the
name of Baton ; but that subsequeDtlj, in consequence of his
importunities and miserly habits, he became rich, and obtained
the rights of citizenship at Corinth.

II. He never wrote anything serious ; but his writings are
full of ridiculous matter; and in some respects similar to
those of Meleager, who was his contemporary. And Hermm-
pus tells us that he was a man who lent money at daily^
interest, and that he was called a usurer; £:>r he used to
lend on nautical usuiy, and take security, so that he amassed
a very great amount of riches.

III. But at last he fell into a snare, and lost all his money,
and in a fit of despair he hung himself, and so he died. And
we have written a playful epigram on him -

This man was a Syrian hj birth,

And a Cretan usurious bound,
Ab tbe name he was known by sets forth ;

You've heard of him oft I'll be bound ;
Bm name waa Menippus— men entered hia hooae^
And stole all his goods without leaving a louae^
When (from this the dog's nature you plainly may teU)
He hung tiiTnaaif up, and so went off to helL

IV. But some say that the books attributed to him are not
really his work, but are the composition of Dionysius and
Zopyrus the Colophonians, who wrote them out of joke, and
theu gave them to him as a man well able to dispose of them.

V. There were six persons of the name of Menippus ; the
first was the man who wTote a history of the Lydians, and
made an abridgment of Xauthus ; the second was this D:ian of
whom we have been speaking ; the third was a sophist of
Stratonice, a Carian by descent ; the fourth was a statuary :
the fifth and the sixth were painters, and thej are both men-
tioned by Apollodorus.

VI. The writings left by the Cynic amount to thirteen
volumes ; a Description of the Dead ; a volume called Wills ;

M£N£D£MUS.

257

a volume of Letters in which the Gods are introduced ; treatises
addressed to the Natural riiilosophers, and Mathematicians,
and Grcimmari;iiis ; one on the Generations of Epicurus, and on
the Observance of the Twentieth Day by the philosophers of
his school ; and one or two other essays.

THE LIFE OF MENEDEMUS.

L Menedemtis was a disciple of Cclotcs of Lampsacus.

II. He proceeded, as Hippobotus tells, to sueli n great degree
of superstition, that he assumed the garb of a furv, and went
about saying that he had come from hell to take notice of all
who did wrong, in order that he might descend thithtr again
and make his report to the deities who abode in that country.
And this was his dress : a tunic of a dark colour reaching to his
feet, and a piu-ple girdle round his waist, an Arcadian liat on
his head with the twtdve signs of the zodiac embroidered
on it, tragic busldns, a pt^posterously long beards and an ashen
staff in his hand.

TIT. These then are the lives of each of the Cniics ; and we
shall also subjoin some of the doctrines which they all held in
common, if indeed it is not an abuse of language to call that a
sect of philosophy at all, instead of, as some contend it should
be termed, a mere system of life*

They wished to abolish the whole systetn of logic and natural
philosophy, like Aristo of Chios, and thought that men should
study nothing but ethics ; and what some people assert of
Socrates was described by Diodes as a characteristic of Dio-
genes, for he said that his doctrine was, that a man ought to
investigate — . .

Only the good tinA fil that taketb pHaoe
Within cmr hoiUM.

They also discard alF liberal studies. Accordingly, Antis-
thenes said that wise raen only applied themselves to litera-
ture and learning for the sake of perverting others ; they also
wish to abolish geometry and music, and everything of that

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258 UYBB OF SIONJENT FHILOflOPHBBS.

kind. Accordingly, Diogenes said once to a person who was
showing him a clock ; It ig a verj' useful thing to save a
man from being too late for supper." And once when a man
made an exhibition of musical skill before him» he said

" Cities are govwuadM to m howw too^
Bj iriidom, not by havp-playiog md whipflTng." *

Their doctrine is, that the chief good of manldnd is to live
according to virtue, as Antisthenes says in hi» Hercules, in
which they resemble the Stoics. For those two sects have a
good deal in comniou with one another, on which account tliey
themselves say that cynicism is a short road to virtue ; and
Zeno, the Cittioian lived in the same manner.

Tliey also teach that men ought to live simply, using only
plain food in moderate quantities, wearing nothing but a cloak,
and despising riches, and glory, and nobleness of birth ; ac-
cordingly some of them feed upon nothing beyond herbs and
cold water, living in any shelter that they can find, or in tubs
as Diogenes did ; fur he used to say that it was the peculiar
property of the Gods to want nothing, and that, therefore,
when a man wished for nothing he was like the Gods.

Anuther of their doctrines is, that virtue is a thing whicli
may be taught, as Antisthenes affirms in his Heraclides ; and
that when it has once been attained it can never be lost.
They also say tliat the wise man deserves to be loved, and
cannot commit error, and is a friend to every one who resem-
bles him, and that he leaves nothing to fortune. And every-
thing which is unconnected witli either virtue or Tice they call
indifferent, agreeing in this with Aristo, the Chian.

These then were the Cynics ; and now we must pass on to
the Stoics, of which sect the founder was Zeno, who had been
a discijjlo of Crates,

* This a parody on two lines in the Aniiope of Euripidea.

Whioh maj be traiulated : —

Wisdoni it is which Kgnlatea both cities,'

And private citizens, and makes their lot
Reciiro and happy ; nor iA bar ii^ft^^PO
Of Icaa account in war. ^

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259

BOOK VIL

LIFE OF ZENO.

I. Zbno was tbe son of Innaseas, or DemeaSi and a native
of Gitiom, in Cyprus, wbich is a Grecian city, pardj occnqpied
bj a Phoeniciaa colony,

II. He had his head naturally bent on one side, as Timo-
theus, the Athenian, tells us, in his work on Lives. And
Apollonins, the Tyrian, says that he was thin, veiy tall, of a
dturk complexion ; in reference to which some one once called
him an Egyptian Clematis, as Ghiysippns delates in the first
▼olume of his Proverbs : he had &t, flabby, weak legs, on
which account Persffius, in his Convivial Beminiscences, says
that he used to tefuae many invitations to supper ; and he
was very fond, as it is said, of figs both finesh and dried in
the sun.

III. He was a pupil, as has been already stated, of Crates.
After that, they say that he became a pupU of Stilpon and of
Xenociates, for ten years, as Timocrates relates in his Life of
Dion. He is also said to have been a pupil of Polemo. But
Hecaton, and Apollonius, of Ty^^, in the first book of his
essay on Zeno, say that when he consulted the oracle, as to
what he ought to do to live in the most excellent manner, the
God answered him that he ought to become of the same
complexion as the dead, on which he inferred that he ought
to apply himself to the reading of the books of the ancients.
Accordingly, he attached himself to Grates in iJia following
manner. Having purchased a quantity of purple from Phoenicia,
he was shipwrecked dose to the Pursue ; and when he had
made bis way from the coast as fiir as Athens, he sat down by
a bookseller's stall, being now about thirty years of age. And
as he took np the second book of Xenophon's Memorabilia and
began to read it, he was delighted with it, and asked wheie
snch men as were described in that book lived ; and as Ciates
happened veiy seasonably to pass at the moment, the book*
seUer pointed him ont, and said, ^ Follow that man.'* From

s fk

260 UVES OF EUINENT PHILOSOFHEBS.

that time forth he became a papil of Crates ; bat though he
was in other rospects veiy energetic in his application to
philosophy, still he was too modest for the shameleesness of
the Cynics. On which account, Crates, wishing to core him
of this false shame, gave him a jar of lentil porridge to carry
through the Ceramicus; and when he saw that he was
ashamed, and that he endeavoured to hide it, he struck the
jar with his staJS^ and broke it ; and, as Zeno fled away, and
the lentil porridge ran all down his legs, Crates called after
•him, Whj do you run away, my little FhoBnioian, you have
done no harm ?" For some time then he continued a pupil of
Orates, and when he wrote his treatise entitled the Republic,
some said^ jokingly, that he had written it upon the tail of the
dog

IV. And besides his Republic, he was the author also of the
following works : treatise on a Life accordii^ to Nature ;
one on Appetite, or the Nature of Man ; one on Passions ;
one on the Becoming ; one on Law ; one on the usual Edu-
cation of the Greeks ; one on Sight ; one on the Whole ; one
on Signs ; one on the Doctrines of the Pythagoreans ; one on
Things in General ; one on Styles ; five essays on Problems
relating to Homer ; one on the Bearing of the Poets. There
is also an essay on Art by him, and two books of Solutions
and Jests, and Reminiscences, and one called the Ethics of
Orates. These are the books of which he was the author.

Y. But at last he left Crates, and became the pupil of the
philosophers whom I hate mentioned before, and ccmtinued
with them for twenty years* So that it is related that he said,
" I now find that I made a prosperous voyage when I was
^rrecked.** But some affirm that he made this speech in
reference to Grates* Others say, that while he was staying at
Athens he heard of a shipwreck, and said, " Fortune does well
m having driven us on philosophy**' But aa some relate the
a&ir, he wus not wrecked at all, but sold all his caigo at
Athens, and then turned to philosophy.

VI. And he used to walk up aad down in the beautifiil
colonnade which is called the Priscanactium, and which is also
called mmikm, from the paintings of Polygnotus, and there he
dciJivered his discourses, wishing to make that vpot tranquil ;
for in the time <^ the thir^, nearly fourteen hundred of the
citizens had been murdered there by them.

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ZENO.

261

VII. Accordingly, for the future, men came thither to hear
him, and from this his pupils were called Stoics, and so were
his successors also, wlio had been at first called Zenonians, as
Epicurus tells us in his Epistles. And before this time, the
poets who frequented this colonnade (trroa) had been called
Stoics, as we are informed by Eratosthenes, in the eighth book
of his treatise on tlie Old Comedy ; but now Zeno*s pupils
made the name more notoiious. Now the Athenians had a
great respect for Zeuo, so that they gave him the keys of their
walls, and they also honoured him with a golden crown, and a
brazen statue ; and this was also done by his own couiitrj^men,
who thought the statue of such a man an honour to their city.
And the Cittiaeans, in the district of Sidon, also claimed him as
their countryman.

VIII. He was also much respected by Antigonus, who,
whenever he came to Athens, used to attend his lectures, and
was constantly inviting him to come to him. But he begged
off himself, and sent Persoeus, one of his intimate friends, who
was the son of Demetrius, and a Cittia^an by birth, and who
flourished about the hundred and thirtieth olympiad, when
Zeno was an old man. The letter of Antigonus to Zeiio was
as follows, and it is reported by Apollonius, the Syrian, in
his essay on Zeno.

UNO jkMTIGONim TO ZBNO TBB PBILOeOPBBB, OBEBTOffO.

" I think that in good fortune and glory I have the advan-
tage of you ; but in reason and education I am inferior to you,
and also in that petfect happinefls which you have attained to.
On v^ch account I have ttiought it good to address you, and
invite you to come to me, being convinced that you will not
refuse what is asked of you. Endeavour, therefore, by all
means to eome to me, oonddenug this fitet, that you will not
be the instructor of me alone, but of all the Macedonians
together. For be who instructs the ruler of the Macedonians,
and wbo leads him in the path of virtue, evidently marshals
all his subjects on the road to happiness. For as &e ruler is,
80 is it natural that his subjects fi>r tbe most part should be
also.**

And Zeno wrote him ha/^k the following answer.

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d62 Uy£S OF JilMINENT FHILOSOPHEBS.

ZEKO TO KING ANTIOONUSp OBEKTIMa.

** I admire your desire for learning, as being a true object
for the wishes of mankind, and one too that tends to their
advantage* And the mati who aims at the study of philosophy
has a proper disregard for the popular kind of instiiiction
which tends only to the corruption of &e morals. And you,
passing by the pleasure which is so much spoken of, which
makes the minds of some young men efiTeminatet show plainly
that you are inclined to noble pursuits, not merely by your
nature, but also by your own deliberate choice. And a noble
nature, when it has received even a slight degree of training,
and which also meets with those who will teach it abundantly,
proceeds without difficulty to a perfect attainment of virtue.
But I now find my bodily health impaired by old age, for I
am eighty years old : on which account I am unable to come
to you. But I send you some of those who have studied with
me, who in tbat learning which has reference to the soul, are
in no respect inferior to me, and in their bodily vigour are
greatly my superiors. And if you associate with them you
will want notlung that can bear upon perfect happiness."

So he sent him PerssBus and Philonides, the Theban, both
of whom are mentioned by Epicurus, in his letter to his
brother Aristobulus, as being companions of Antigonus.

IX. And I have thought it worth while also to set down the
decree of the Athenians concerning him ; and it is couched in
the following language.

'*In the ardionship of Arrhenides, in the fifth presidency of
the tribe Acamantis, on the twenty-first day of the month
Maimactexion, on the twenty«thiid day of the aforesaid
presidency, in a duly convened assembly, Hippo, the son of
Cratistoteles, of the borough of Xypetion, being one of the
presidents, and the rest of the presidents, his colleagues, put
the following decree to the vote. And the decree was pro-
posed by Thrason, of Anacsea, the son of Thrason.

« Since Zeno the son of lunaseas, the Cittitean, has passed
many yean in the city, in the study of philosophy, being in
all other respects a good man, and also exhorting all the
young men who have sought his company to the practice of
virtue, and encouraging them in the practice of temperance ;
making his own life a model to all men of the greatest

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ZBNO.

excellence, since it has in every respect corresponded to the
doctrines which he has taught ; it has been determined by the
people (and may the determination be fortunate), to praise
Zeno, the son of Innaseas, the Cittiaean, and to present him
with a golden crown in accordance with the law, on account of
his virtue and temperance, and to build him a tomb in
the Ceramicus, at the public expense. And the people has
appointed by its vote five men from among the citizens of
Athens, who shall see to the making of the crown and the
building of the tomb. And the scribe of the borough shall
enrol the decree and engrave it on two pillars, and he shall be
permitted to place one pillar in the Academy, and one in the
Lyceum. And he who is appointed to superintend the work
shall divide the expense that the pillars amount to, in such a
way that every one may nnderstaiul that the whole people of
Athens honours good men lioth while they are living and after
they are dead. And Thrason of Anaca?a, Philocles of the
Pineus, Phtedrus of Anaphlystos, Medon of Acharnses, Mecy-
thus of Sypalyttas, and Dion of Paeania, are hereby appointed
to superintend the building of the tomb."
These then are the terms of the decree.

X. But Antigonus, of Carystos, says, that Zeno himself
never denied that he was a native of Cittiura. For that when
on one occasion, there was a citizen of that town who had
contributed to the building of some baths, and was having his
name engraved on the pillar, as the countryman of Zeno the
philosopher, he bade them add, *' Of Cittium."

XI. And at another time, when he had had a hollow
covering made for some vessel^ he carried it about for some
money, in order to procure presebt relief for some difficulties
which were distressing Crates his master. And they say that
he, when he first airived in Greece, had more than a thousand
talents, which he lent out at nautical usury,

XII. And he used to eat little loaves and honey, and to
drink a small quantity of sweet smelling wine.

XIII. He had very few youthful acquaintances of the male
sex* and he did not cultivate them much, lest he should be
thought to be a misogynist. And he dwelt in the same house
with Persaeus ; and once, when he brought in a female flute-
player to him, he hastened to bring her back to him.

XIT. And he was, it is said, of a yeiy accommodating

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304 LIVES OF ElONENT PHUUOSQf H£BS,

temper ; so much so, that Antigonus, the king, often carae to
dine with him, and often carried him off to dine with him, at
the house of Aristocles the harp-player; but when he was
there, he would presently steal away.

XV. It is also said that he avoided a crowd with great care,
80 that he used to sit at the end of a bench, in order at all
events to avoid being incommoded on one side. And he never
used to walk with more than two or tliree companions. And
he used at times to exact a piece of money from all who came
to hear him, with a view of not being distressed by numbers ;
and this story is told by Cleanthes, in his treatise on Brazen
Money. And when he was surrounded by any great crowd, he
would point to a balustrade of wood at the end of the colonnade
which surrounded an altar, and say, " That was once in the
middle of this place, but it was placed apart because it was in
people's way ; and now, if you will only withdiaw from the
middle here, you too will incommode me much less.**

XVI. And when Demochares, the son of Laches, embraced
him once, and said that he would tell Antigonus, or write to
him of everything which he wanted, as he always did every-
thing for him, Zeno, when he had heard him say this, avoided
his company for the future. And it is said, that after the
death of Zeno, Antigonus said, What a spectacle have I lost.''
On which account he employed Thrason, tbeir ambassador, to
entreat of the Athenians to allow him to be buried in the
Ceramicus. And when he was asked why he had such an
admiration for him, he replied, ** Because, though I gave him a
great many important presents^ be was never elated, and never
humbled."

XVII. He was a man of a very investigating spirit, and
one who inquired very minutely into everytlung ; in reference
to which, Timon, in his Silli, speaks thus

% WKW an aged woaun of Fhcenieia,
Hungry and ooretous, in a proud obscurity,
Longing for everything. She had a baskci
So full of holes that it retained nothing.
Likewise her mind was leas than a simdapsuB.*

He used to study Teiy careftiUj with Fhilo, ftke dialectidan,
and to argue with him at their mutual leisure; on which

* AiOftof guiarorvibliiL

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Z£KO.

265

account he excited the wonder of the jouuger Zeno, no less
than Diodoms his nijuster.

XVIII. There were also a lot of dirty beggars always about
bim, as Timou taUs us, where be says : —

Till he collected a vast cloud of beggars,
Who were of eU mem ihe world the pooteel^
And the moei worthless oHuens of Athens.

And he himself was a man of a morose and hitter countenance,
with a constantly frowning expression. He was very economical,
and descended even to the meanness of the barbaiians, under
the pretence of economy.

XIX. If he reproved any one, he did it with brevity and
without exaggeration, and as it were, at a distance. I allude,
for instance, to the way in which he spoke of a man whd took
exceeding pains in setting himself off, for as he was crossing a
gutter with great hesitation, he said, " He is right to look
down upon the mud, for he cannot see himself in it." And
when some Cynic one day said that he had no oil in his cruise,
and asked him for some, he refused to give him any, but bade
him go away and consider which of the two was the more im-
pudent. He was very much in love with Chremonides ; and
once, when he and Cleanthes were both sitting by him, he got
up : and as Clean tbes wondered at this, he said* J hear £rom
skilful physicians that the best thing for some tumours is rest.**
Once, when two people were sitting ahove him at table at a
banquet, and the one next him kept kicking the other with his
foot, he himself kicked him with his knee ; and when he turned
round upon him for doing so, he said, '* Why then do you
think that your other neighbour is to be treated in this way by
you ? "

On one occasion he said to a man who was Yerj fond of
young boys, that ** Schoolmasters who were always associating
with boys had no more intellect than the boys themselves*"
He used also to say that the discourses of those men who were
careful to avoid solecisms, and to adhere to the strictest rules
of composition, were like Alexandrine money, they were pleas-
ing to the eye and well-formed like the coni, but were*nothing
the better for that ; but those who were not so particular he
likened to the Attic tessedrachmas, which were struck at
nmdom and without any great nicety, and so he said that their

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966 UYSB OF BUNBirr FHIL060PHBB8.

discourses often outweighed the more polished styles of the
others. And when Aiiston, hif disciple, had heea holding
forth a good deal without much wit, but still in some points
idih a good deal of readiness and confidence, he said to him.
It would be impossible for you to ^eak thus, if your father
had not been drunk when he begat joa ; " and for the same
reason he nicknamed him the chatterer, as be himself was very
ooncise in his speeches. Once, when he was in company with
an epicure who usually left nothing for his messmates, and
when a large fish was set before him, he took it all as if he
could eat the whole of it ; and when the others looked at him
with astonishment, he said, *' What then do you think that
your companions feel every day, if you cannot bear with my
gluttony for one day ? **

On one occasion, when a youth was askmg him questions
with a pertinacity unsuited to his age, he led him to a looking-
glass and bade him look at himself, and then asked him
whether such questions appeared suitable to the &ce he saw
there. And when a man said before him once, that in most
points he did not agree with the doctrines of Antisthenea, be
quoted to him an apophthegm of Sophocles, and asked him
whether he thought there was much sense in that, and when he
said that he did not know, Are you not then ashamed,'* said
he, to piek out and recollect aiqrthing bad which may have
been said by Antisthenes, but not to re^urd or remember what-
ever is said that is good ? " A man once said, that the say-
ings of the philosophers appeared to him yeiy trivial ; " You say
true,'* replied Zeno, '* ana thdr syllables too ought to be short,
if that is possible.** When some one spoke to him of Polemo,
and said that he proposed one question for discussion and then
argued another, he became angry, and said, *' At what value
did he estimate the sulgeet that had been proposed ?*' And
be said that a man who was to discuss a question ought to
have a loud voice and great energy, like tlie actors, but not to
open his mouth too wide, which those who speak a great deal
but only talk nonsense usually do. And he used to say that
there was no need for those who argued well to leave thdr
hearers room to look about them, as good workmen do who
want to have their work seen ; but that, on the contrary, those
who are listening to them ought to be so attentive to all that
is said as to have no leisure to take notes.

ZBNO.

267

Once when a young man was talking a great deal, he said,
" Your ears have run down into your tongue." On one occa-
Bion a very handsome man was saying that a wise man did not
appear to him liliely to fall in love ; " Then," said he, *' I can-
not imagine anything that will he more miserahle than you
good-looking fellows." lie also used often to say that most
philosophers were wise in great things, but ignorant of petty
suhjects and chance details ; and he used to cite the saying of
Caphesius, who, when one of his pupils was labouring hard to
he able to blow very powerfully, gave him a slap, and said,
that excellence did not depend upon greatness, but greatness
on excellence. Once, when a young man was arguing very
confidently, he said, " I sliould not like to say, 0 youth, all
that occurs to me." And once, when a handsome and wealthy
Rhodian, but one who had no other qualification, was pressing
him to take him as a pupil, he, as he was not inclined to re-
ceire him, first of all made him sit on the dusty seats that he
might dirt his cloak, then he put him down in the place of the
poor that he might rub against their rags, and at last the young
man went away. One of his sayings used to be, that vanity
was the most unbecoming of all things, and espe<^ially so in the
young. Another was, that one ought not to try and recollect
the exact words and expressions of a discourse, but to fix all
one's attention on the arrangenient' of the arguments, instead
of treating it as if it were a piece of boiled meat, or some deli-
cate eatable. He used also to saj that young men ought to
maintain the most scrupulous reserve in their walking, their
gait, and their dress ; and he was constantly quoting the lines
of Euripides on Capaneus, that—

Bis iraalih was ampls.

But yet no pride did mingle with his stats^
Nor had be haughty thoughl^ or arrogailOS^
More than the poorest man.

And one of his sayings used to be, that nolhing was more
unMendly to the comprehension of the accurate sciences than
poetry ; and that there was nothing that we stood in so much
need of as time. When he was asked what a friend was, he
replied, ♦•Another I." They say that he was once scourging
a slave whom he had detected in theft ; and when he said to
him, " It was fated that I should steal ; " he rejoined, " Yes,
and that yon should be heaten." He used to caHl beauty the

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flower of the voice ; but some report this as if he had said that
the voice is the flower of beau^. On one occasion, when he
saw a slave belonging to one of his friends seveiely bnused.
he said to his finend, I see the footsteps of your anger.'* He
once accosted a man who was all over unguents and peffmneSt
" Who is this who smells like a woman ?" When Dionysiua
Metathemenos asked him why he was the only perasn whom
he did not correct, he replied, Because I have*no confidence
in yon.'* A young man was talking a gieat deal of nonsense,
and he said to him, " This is the reason why we have two ears
and ouly one mouth, that we may hear more and speak less.**
, Once, when he was at an entertainment and remained
wholly silent, he was asked what the reason was ; and so he
bade the person who found 6uilt with him tell the king that
there was a man in the room who knew how to hold his tongue ;
now the people who asked him this were ambassadors who had
come firom Ptolemy, and who wished to know whttt report they
were to make of him to the king. He was once asked how he
felt when people abused him, and he said, *' Aean ambassador
feels when he is sent away without an answer." Apollonius of
Tyre tells us, that when Orates dragged him by llie doak away
from Stilpo, he said. ** 0 Oratea, the proper way to. take hold
of philosophers is by the ears ; so now do you omvince me and
drag me by them ; but if you use fi>roe towards me, my body
may be with you, but my mind with Stilpo."

XX. He used to devote a good deal of time to Biodonis, aa
we learn from Hippobotus ; and he studied dialectics under
hinu And when he had made a good deal of progress he
attached himself to Polemo because of his freedom £rom ane-
ganoe, so that it is reported that he said to him, *' I am not
ignorant, 0 Zeno, that you slip into the garden-door and steal
my doctrines, and then clothe them in a Phoenician dress.*^
When a dialectician once showed him seven speciesof dialectie
argument in the mowing argument,* he asked him how much
he charged (ix them, and when he said A hundred drachmas,"
he gave him two hundred, so exceedingly devoted was he to
learning.

XXI. They say too, that he was the first who ever em-

• The Grork is, Iv ry Oipi^ovrt Xdyw, a species of argument so
called, becauHe he who used it mowed or knocked down advena-
zieee. — ^Aldub.

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269

ployed the word duty (xa^^xov), and who wrote a treatise on
tlie subject. And that he altered the lines of liesiod
thus:—

He k the "htiti of «n mieii wko labiiiits

To follow good advice ; be too ia good,
Who of hmieelf peroeivee iribate'er k fit,*

For he said that that man who had the capacity to give a
proper hearing to what was said, and to avail himself of it,
was superior to him who comprehended everything by his
own intellect ; for that the one had only comprehension, but
the one who took good advice had action also.

XXII. When he was asked why he, who was generally
austere, relaxed at a dinner party, he said, *' Lupins too are
bitter, but when they are soaked tlicy become sweet.** And
Hecaton, in the second book of his Apophthegms, says, that
in entertaimeuts of that kind, he used to indulge himself
freely. And he used to say that it was better to trip with
the feet, than with the tongue. And that goodness was
attained by little and httle, but was not itself a small thing.
Some authors, however, attribute this saying to Socrates.

XXIII. He was a person of great powers of abstinence
and endurance ; and of very simple habits, living on food
which required no fire to^ dress it, and wearing a tliin cloak,
so that it was said of him

The odd of Wisft^, and the eeaaelesB rain,
Come powerlefls against him ; weak is the dait
Of the fu'i-ce snnimer Bun, or full disease,
To beud that iron frame. He utaiida apart,
hi nought reaembling the Tsst common orowd ;
But, [latient and im wearied, night and daj«
ClingB to his studies and j^ulosopliy. .

♦ The Greek in the text is : —

KeivoQ fiiv travaptOTOQ oq I'nrovTi TriOtiratt

The lines in Hesiod M

|j Kftvoc fi^v trav^pitTTOQ 3c airbg 'rravra vo^(rp

y *E<T0X6c ^* av KaKtivog Zc ti iinovri iri^ijrai.— Opw £. Di. 293*

That man is best, whose imaBsisted wit
Perceives at once what in each case iii ht.
And next to Idm, ho flnrcty is most wise, ^
Who inlUnc^ submits to good ad^ioOi

S70 LIVES OF EiaNBNT FHIL080PHBB&

XXIV. And the comic poets, without intending it, piaise
him in their very attempts to turn him into ridicule. Philemon
speaks thus of him in his play entitled the Philosopheis :—

Thifl man adopts a new pliilosophY,
He taaehM to be hungry ; nerertheleii^*
He gets diflciplea. Bread hia only food,
Bii beet deMrt dried %i ; wmter hie drink.

Bat some attrihute these lines to Posidippus. And thej
have become almost a proverb. Accordingly it used to he
said of him, ** Mora temperate than Zeno the philosopher.**
Posidippus also writes thus in his Men Transported;—

So that for ten whole day-s be did appear
More temperate than Zeuo's self.

XXV. For in reality he did surpass all men in this descrip-
tion of virtue, and in dignity of demeanour, and, by Jove, in
happiness. For he lived ninety-eight years, and then died,
vdthout any disease, and continuing in good health to the
last. But Persaeus, in his Ethical School, states that he died
at the age of seventy-two, and that he came to Athens vshen
he was twenty-two years old. But ApoUonius says that he
presided over his school for forty-eight years.

XXVL And he died in the following manner. When he
was going out of his school, he tripped, and broke one of his
toes ; and striking the ground with his hand, he repeated the
line out of the Niobe

I oome : why cell me eof

And immediately ho strangled himself, and so he died. But the
Athenians buried him in the Ceramicus, and h*onoured him
with the decrees which J have mentioned before, bearing
witness to his virtue. And Anti pater, the Sidonian, wrote an
inscription for him, which runs thus

Here Cittium's pride, wise Zeno, lies, who dimb'd

The Bumitfl of Olympus ; but unmoved

By wckod thoughts ne'er strove to raise on Oasa

The piue-clad Pehon ; nor did he emulate

Th* immorfcel tofle of Hereolea ; bnt found

A new way for hfmaftlf to th' highest heaven.

By virtue^ temperanec^ and modeely.

And Zenodotus, the Sttnc, a disdple of Diogenes, wrote
another:—

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You made contentment the chief rule of life,
Despifling haughty wealth, 0 Qod-like Zen<h
Witu solemn look, and hoary brow aerene,
You taught a manly doctrine ; and didst found
By your deep wisdom, a great novel school,
Chaste parent of unf earing liberty.
And If your country was Phoenicia^
Why need we grieve^ from that land Cadmus oame.
Who ^ve to Gweeoe her written books of wisdom.

And AthensBus, the Epigrammatic poet, speaks thus of all
the Stoics in common :—

O, ye whoVe lesnit the doctrines of the Pozohy

^d have committed to your books divine
The best of human learning ; teaching men
That the mind's virtue ia the only good.
Aud she it is who keeps the lives of men.
And cities, safer than high gates or wails.
Qut those who place their happiness ix) pleasure^
Are led by the least worthy of the Muses.

And "we also have ourselves spoken of the manner of Zeno*s
death, in our collection of poems in all metres, in the follow*
ing terms : —

Some say thst Zeno, pride of Oittium,

Died of old age, when weak and quite worn out ;

Some say that famine's cnif 1 tfiotli did blay Iiim ;
Some that he fell, and striking hard the giouud,
Said, " See, I come, why call me thus impatiently ?"

For some say tliat this was the way iu which ho died. And
this is enough to say coucerning his death.

XXVII. But Demetrius, the Mugiiesiaii, says, m his essay
on People of the Same Name, that bis Hither Iniuiseas often
came to Athens, as he was a merchant, and that he used to
bring hack many of the books of the Socratic j)hilosophers, to
Zeno, while he was still only a boy ; and that, from this cir-
cumstance, Zeno had already become talked of in his own
coimtry ; and that in consequence of this he went to Athens,
where he attached himself to Crates. And it seems, be adds,
that it was he who first recommended a clear enunciation of
principles, as the best remedy for error. He is said, too, to
have been in the habit of swearing By Gapers/* as Socrates
swore " By the Dog."

XXVIII. Some, indeed, ampng whom is Cassius the
Sceptic, attack Zeno on many accounts, saying first of all that
he denounced the general system of education in vogue at the

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time, as useless, which he did in the heginnin<T of his Repuhlic.
And in the second pUice, tliAt he used to call all who wtre not
virtuous, adversaries, and enemies, and slaves, and unfriendly
to one another, parents to their children, brethren to brethren,
and kinsmen to kinsmen ; and again, that in his Republic, he
speaks of the virtuous as the only citizens, and friends, and
relations, and free men, so that in the doctrine of the Stoic,
even parents and their children are enemies ; for they are
not wise. Also, that he lays down the principle of the com-
munity of women both in his Ilepiiblic and in a poem of two
hundred verses, and teaches that neither temples nor courts of
law, nor gymnasia, ought to be erected in a city ; moreover,
that he writes thus about money, That he does not think
that men ought to coin money either for purposes of traffic, or
of travelling." Besides all this, he enjoins men and women
to wear the same dress, and to leave no part of their persou
uncovered.

XXIX. And that this treatise on the Republic is his work
wc arc assured by Chrysippus, in his Republic. He also dis-
cussed amatory subjects in the beginning of that book of his
which is entitled the Art of Love. And in his Conversations

he writes in a similar manner.

Such are the charges made against him by Cassius, and also
by Tsidonis, of Pergamus, the orator, who says that all the
uubecoming doctrines and assertions of the Stoics were cut
out of their books by Athenodorus, the Stoic, who was the
curator of the library at Pergamus. And that subsequently
they were replaced, as Athenodorus w^as detected, and placed
in a situation of great danger ; and this is sufficient to say
about those doctrines of his which were impugned.

XXX. There were eif^ht different persons of the name of
Zeno. The first was the Klcatic, whom we shall mention,
hereafter ; the second was this man of whom w^e are now
speaking ; the third was a Rhodian, who wrote a histoiy of
his country in one book ; the fourth was a historian wlio wrote
an account of the expedition of Pyn*lius into Italy and Sicily ;
and also an epitome of the transactions between the Romans
and Carthaginians ; the fifth was a disciple of Chrysippus,
who wrote very few books, but who left a great number of
disciples ; the sixth was a physician of Hesophila, a very
shrewd man in intellect, but a very indifferent writer ; the

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sereoth was a grammaxmii, who, besides other writings, has
left some epigrams behind him ; the eighth was a Sidonian by
descent, a philosopher of the Eptenrean school, a deep thinker,
and veiy clear writer.

XXXI. The disciples of Zeno were my niimeiDiis. The
most eminent were, first of all, Persseus, of Gittium, the son of
Demetrins, whom some call a friend of his, but others describe
him as a servunt and one of the amanumes who were sent to
him by Antigoims, to whose son, Halcymens, he also acted as
tutor. And Antigonus once, wishing to make trial of him,
caused some false news to be brought to him that his estate
had been ravaged by the enemy ; and as he began to look
gloomy at this news, he said to him, '* You see that wealth is
not a matter of indifference."

The following works are attributed to him. One on Kingly
Power ; one entitled the Constitution of the LacedoBmonians ;
one on Marriage ; one on Impiety ; the Thyestes ; an Essay
on Love ; a volume of Exhortations ; one of Conversations ;
four of Apophthegms ; one of Reminiscences ; seven treatiiieb,
the Laws of Plato.

The next was Ariston, of Chios, the son of Miltiades, who
was the fn*st luitbor of the doctrine of indifference ; then
Herillus, who called knowledf^c the chief good ; then Dioiiy-
sius, who transferred tliis description to pleasure: as, on
account of tlie violent disease which he had in his eyes, he
could not yet bring himself to call pain a thing indifferent.
He was a native of lieraclea ; there was also Spha;rus, of the
Bosphorus ; and ( leanthes, of Assos, tlie son of Phanias, who
succeeded him in his scliool, and whom lie used to liken to
tablets of hard wax, which ai'c written upon with difficulty, but
which retain what is written upon them. And after Zeno's
death, Spha?rus became a pupil of Clean tlies. And we shall
speak of him in our account of ('leanthes.

These also were all discipleR of /ono, as we are told by
Hipp(il)otus, namely: — Philonides, of Thelcs ; Callijipus, of
Corinth ; Posidonius, of Alexandria ; Athenodorus, of Soli ;
and Zeno, a Sidonian.

XXX II. And I have thought it best to pive a general
account of all tlio Stoic doctrines in the lii'e of Zeno, because
he it was who was the founder of the sect.

He has written a great many books, of which I have already

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given a list, in which he has spoken as no other of the Stoics
has. And his doctrines in general are these. But we will
enumerate Ihem hriefly, as we have been in the hahit of doing
in the case of the other philosophers.

XXXIIL The Stoics divide reason according to philosophy,
into Ihree parts ; and say that one part rektes to natural
philosophy, one to ethics, and one to logio. And Zeno, the *
OittiaBsn, was the first who made this division, in his treatise
• on Reason ; and he was followed in it by Ghrysippus, in the
first book of his treatise on Reason, and in the first book of
his treatise on Natural Philosophy ; and also by Apollodoms ;
and by Syllus, in the first book of his Introduction to die
Doctrines of the Stoics ; and by Eudromus, in his Ethiml
Elements ; and by Diogenes, the Babylonian ; and Posidoros.
Now these divisions are called^ topie$ by Apollodonis, speciea
by Ohrysippus and Eudromus, and gmwra by all the rest.
And th^ compare philosophy to an animal, l&ening logic to
the bones and sinews, natoral philosophy to the fleshy parts,
and ethical philosophy to the soul. Again, they compare it to
an egg ; calling logic the shell, and ethics the white, and
natural philosophy the yolk. Also to a fertile field ; in which
logic is the fence which goes roond it, ethics are the fruit, and .
natural philosophy the soil, or the fruit-trees. Again, they
•compare it to a city fortified by walls, and r^nlated by reason ;
and then, as some them say, no one part is preferred to
another, but they are all oomMned and united inseparably ;
and 80 they^ treat of them all in combination. But others
class logic first, natural phOosophy second, and ethics third ;
as Zeno does in his treatise on Reason, and in this he is
followed by Ghrysippus, and Archidemus, and Eudromus.

For Diogenes' of Ptolemais begins with ethics ; but i^Ilo-
dorus places ethics second; and Pantetius and Posidionius
begin with natural philosophy, as Phanias, the firiend of
Posidonius asserts, in the first book of his treatise on the
School of Posidonius.

But Gleanthes says, that there are six divisions of reason
according to philosophy : dialectics, rhetoric, ethics, politics,
physics, and theology ; but others assert that &ese are not
divisions of reason, but of j^iilosophy itaelf ; and tiiia is the
opinion advanced by 2ieno, of Tarsus, among others.

XXXIV. Some again say, that the logical division is

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properly subdivided into two sciences, namely, rhetoric and
dialectics ; and some divide it also into definitive species,
which is coversant with rules and tests ; while others deny the
propriety of this last division altogether, and argue that the
object of rules and tests is the discovery of the truth ; for it
is in this division that they explain the differences of repre-
sentations. They also arj^ue that, on'the other side, the science
of definitions has equally for its object the discovery of truth,
since we only know things by the intervention of ideas. They
also call rhetoric a science conversant about speaking well
concerning matters which admit of a detailed narrative ; and
dialectics they call the science of arguing correctly in discus-
sions which can be carried on by question and answer ; on
which account they define it thus : a knowledge of what is
true, and false, and neither one thing nor the other.

Again, rhetoric itself they divide into three kinds ; for one
description they say is concerning about giving advice, another
is forensic, and the third encomiastic : and it is also divided
into several parts, one relating to tlie discovery of arguments,
one to style, one to the arrangement of arguments, and the
other to the delivery of the speech. And a rhetorical oration
they divide into the exordium, the narration, the reply to the
statements of the advei^se party, and the peroration.

XXXV. Dialectics, they say, is divided into two parts ; one
of which has reference to the things signified, the other to the
expression. That which has reference to the things signified
or spoken of, they divide again into the topic of things con-
ceived in the fancy, and into those of axioms, of perfect
determinations, of predicaments, of things alike, whether
upright or prostrate, of tropes, of syllogisms, and of sophisms,
which are derived either from tlie voice or from the things. And
these sophisms are of various kinds ; there is the false one,
the one which states facts, the negative, the sorites, and others
like tliese ; the imperfect one, the inexplicable one, the con-
clusive one, the veiled one, the homed one, the nobody, and
the mower.

In the second part of dialectics, that which has for its object
the expression, they treat of written language, of the different
parts of a discourse, of solecism and barbarism, of poetical
forms of expression, of ambiguity, of a melodious voice, of
music ; and some even add definitions, divisions, and diction.

T 2

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They say that the most useful of these parts is the con-
sideration of syllogisms ; for that they show us what nre tlie
things which are capable of demonstration, and that contributes
much to the formationof our judgment, and their arrangement
and memory give a scient^c character to our knowledge.
They define reasoning to be a system composed of assomptions
and conclusions : and syllogism is a syllogistic argument pro-
ceeding on them. Demonstration they define to be a method
by which one proceeds from that which is more known to that
which is less. Perception, again, is an impression produced oa
the mind, its name being ai^ropriately borrowed from impres*
sions on wax made by a seal ; and perception they divide inta
comprehensible and incomprehensible : Comprehensible, which
they call the criterion of facts, and which is produced by a real
object, and is, therefore, at the same time conformable to that
object; Incomprehensible, which has no relation to any real
object, or else, if it has any such relation, does not correspond
to it, being but a vague and indistinct representaticm.

Dialectics itself tb^ pronounce to be a necessary science,
and a virtue which comprehends several other virtues under
its species. And the disposition not to take up one side of
an argument hastily, they defined to be a knowledge by which
we are taught when we ought to agree to a statement, and
when we ot^bt to withhold our agreement. Discretion they
consider to be a powerful reason, having reference to what is
becoming, bo as to prevent our yielding to an irrelevant argu-
ment. Irrefutability they define to be a power in an argument,
which prevents one from being drawn from it to its opposite.
Freedom from vanity, according to them, is a habit which
refers the perceptions back to right reason.

Again, they define knowledge itself as an assertion or
safe comprehension, or habit, which, in the perception of what
is seen, never deviates from the truth. And they say frirther,
that without dialectic speculation, the wise man cannot
be free from all error in his reasoning. For that that is
what distinguishes what is true from what is false, and which
eaidly detects those arguments which are only plausible, and
those Yiback depend upon an ambiguity ni language. And
without dialectics they say it is not possible to ask or answer
questions correctly. They also add, that precipitation in
denials extend to those things which are done, so that those

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who have not properly exercised their perceptions fall into
irregularity and thoughtlessness. Again, without dialectics,
the wise man cannot be acute, and ingenious, and wary, and
altogether dangerous as an arguer. For that it belongs to the
same man to speak correctly and to reason correctly, and to
discuss properly those subjects which are proposed to him, and
to answer readily whatever questions are put to him, all which
qualities belong to a man who is skilful in dialectics. This
then is a brief summary of their opinions on. logic.

XXXVI. And, that we may also enter into some more
minute details respecting them, we will subjoin what refers to
what they call their introductory science, as it is stated by
Diodes, of Magnesia, in his Excursion of Philosophers,
where he speaks as follows, and we will give his account word
for word.

The Stoics have chosen to treat, in the first place, of percep-
tion and sensation, because the criterion by which the truth of
facts is ascertained is a kind of perception, and because the
judgment which expresses the belief, and the comprehension,
and the understanding of a thing, a judgment which precedes
all others, cannot exist without perception. For perception
leads the w;iy; and then thought, tiiiding vent in expressions,
explains in words the feelings which it derives from perception.
But there is a difference between (pn>tra<sia, and <pdvTxff/j>a.
I'or (pdvroLfffMa is a conception of the intellect, such as takes
place in sleep ; but (pavraff/a is an impression, rh^uioii, pro-
duced on the mind, that is to say, an alteration, aXXo/aj5/c, as
Chrysippus states in the twelfth book of his treatise on the
Soul. For we must not take this impression to resemble that
made by a seal, since it is impossible to conceive that there
should be many impressions made at the same time on the
same thing. But f awatf/a is understood to be that which is im-
pressed, and formed, and imprinted by a real object, according
to a real object, in such a way as it could not be by any other
than a real object; and, according to their ideas of the
pavratfidi, some are sensible, and some are not. Those they
call sensible, which are derived by us fmm some one or more
senses; and those they call not sensible, which emanate
directly from the thought, as for instance, those which relate to
inoorporeal objects, or any others which are embraced by
reason. Again, those which are sensible, are produ<;^d by a

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real object, which imposes itself on the intelligence, and com-
pels its acquiescence ; and there are also some others, which are
simply apparent, mere shadows, which resemble those which
are produced by real objects.

Again, these ipavrdatai are divided into rational and irra-
tional ; those which are rational belong to animals capable of
reason ; those which are irrational to animals destitute of
reason. Those which are rational are thoughts ; those which
are irrational have no name ; but are again subdivided into
artificial and not artificial. At all events, an image is contem-
plated in a difiereut light by a man skilful in art, from that
in which it is viewed by a man ignorant of art.

By sensation, the Stoics understand a species of breath
which proceeds from the dominant portion of the soul to the
senses, whether it be a sensible perception, or an organic dispo
sitiun, which, according to the notions of some of them, i$
crippled and vicious. They also call sensation the energy,
or active exercise, of the sense. According to tlieni, it is to
sensation that we owe our comprehension of white and black,
and rough and smooth : from reason, that w^e derive the
notions which result from a demonstration, those for instance
which have for their object the existence of Gods, and of
Divine Providence. For all our thoughts are formed either
by indirect perception, or by similarity, or analogy, or trans-
position, or combination, or opposition. By a direct percep-
tion, we perceive those tliin^^s which are the o])iects of sense ;
by similarity, those which start from some point present to
our senses ; as, for instance, we form an idea of Socrates from
his likeness. We dmw our conclusions by analogy, adopt-
ing either an increased idea of the thing, as of Tityus, or the
Cyclops ; or a diminished idea, as of a pigmy. So, too, the
idea of tho centre of the world was one derived by analogy
from what we perceived to be the case of the smaller
spheres. We use transposition when we fancy eyes in a man s
breast; combination, when we take in the idea of a Centaur;
opposition, when we turn our thoughts to death. Some ideas
we also derive from compaiisou, for instauoe, from a oompanBon
of words and places.

There is also nature ; as by nature we comprehend what is
just and good. And privation, when for instance, we form a
notion of a man without hands* Such are the dootiinss of

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the Stoics, on the subject of pbautasia, and sensation, and .

thought.

XXX VIT. They say that the proper criterion of truth is
the comprehension, (pavraffia ; that is to say, one which is
derived from a real object, as Chiysippus asserts in the twelfth
book of his Physics ; and he is followed by Antipatcr and
ApoUodorus. For Boethius leaves a great many critena,
such as intellect, sensation, appetite, and knowledge ; but
Chrysippus dissents from his view, and in the first book of
his treatise on Reason, says, that sensation and preconcep-
tion are the only criteria. And preconception is, according
to him, a comprehensive physical notion of general principles.
But othere of the earlier Stoics admit right reason as one
criterion of the truth ; for instance, this is the opinion of
Fosidouius, and is advanced by him in his essay on Criteria.

XXXVIII. On the subject of logical speculation, there
appears to be a great unanimity among the greater part of the
Stoics, in beginning with the topic of the voice. Now voice
is a percussion of the air ; or, as Diogenes the Babylonian,
defines it, in his essay on the Voice, a sensation peculiar to
the hearing. The voice of a beast is a mere percussion of
the air by some impetus : but the voice of a man is articulate,
and is emitted by intellect^ as Diogenes lays it down, and is
not brought to perfection in a shorter period than fourteen
years. And the voice is a body according to the Stoics ; for
60 it is laid down by Archidemus, in his book on the Voice^
and by Diogenes, and Antipater, and also by Chrysippus, in
the second volume of his Physics. For everything which
makes anything, is a body ; and the voice makes something
when it proceeds to those who hear from those who speak.

A word (>>^^/;). again, is, according to Diogenes, a v(»ce
consisting of letters, as Day." A sentence (Xfyo^) is a
significant voice, sent out by the intellect, as for instance, *' It
is day;" but dialect is a peculiar style imprinted on the
utterance of nations, according to their race ; and causes
varieties in the Greek language, being a sort of local habit, as
for instance, the Attics say tfaXanw, and the lonians say
flfis^ri. The elements of words are the twenty*four letters ;
and the word letter is used in a triple division of sense,
meaning the element itself, the graphical sign of the element,
and the name, as Alpha. There are seven vowels, a, i, ri, i,
o» V, « ; six mutes, jS, ^, d, %, r. But vnice is different ^^m

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a word, because voice is a sound ; but a word is an articulate
sound. And a word differs from a sentence, because a sen-
tence is always significative of something, but a word by itself
has no signification, as for instance, fiyJrot. But this is not
the case with a sentence. Again, there is a difference between
speaking and pronouncing ; the sounds are pronounced, but
what are spokeu are things which are capable of beiiig spoken
of.

XXXIX. Now of sentences there are five parts, as Dio-
genes tells us in his treatise on Voice ; and he is followed by
Clu'ysippus. There is the noun, the common noun, the verb,
the conjunction, and the article. Antipater addy also quality,
in his treatise upon Words and the things expressed by tliem.
And a common nouu (rrcGcrjyo^ia) is, according to Diogenes, a
part of a sentence signifying a common quality, as for instance,
man, horse. But a noun is a part of a sentence signifying a
peculiar quality, su(;h as Diogenes, Socrates. A verb is a part
of a sentence signifying an uncombined categorem, as Diogenes-
(o Atoytvris) or, as others define it, an element of a sentence,
devoid of case, signifying something compound in reference to
some person or persons, as, " I write," " I say." A conjunc-
tion is a part of a sentence destitute of case, utiiting the divi-
sions of the sf^ntence. An article is an element of a sentence,
having cases, defining the genders of nouns and their numbers ;
as 6, jj, rhy 6/, a), ra,

XL. The excclleiicos of a sentence are five, — good Greek,
clearness, conciseness, suitableness, elegance. Good Greek
CFXXrivifffihg) is a correct style, according to art, keeping aloof
from any vulgar form of expression ; clearness is a style which
states that which is conceived in the mind in such a way that
it is easily known : conciseness is a style which embraces all
that is necessary to the clear explanation of the subject under
discussion ; suitableness is a style suited to the subject ;
elegance is a style which avoids all peculiarity of expression.
Of the vices of a sentence, on the other hand, barbarism is a
use of words contrary to that in vogue among the well-educated
Greeks ; solecism is a sentence incongruously put together.

XLI. A poetical expression is, as Posidonius defines it in
his introduction on Style, " A metrical or rhythmical diction,
proceeding in preparation, and avoiding all resemblance to
prose." For instance, The vast and boundless earth,**
**Th' expanse of heaven," aie rbjthmical expressions; and

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poetry is a collection of poetical expressions signifying some-
thing, containing an imitation of divine and human beings.

XL 1 1. A definition is, as Antipater explains it in the first
book of his treatise on Definitions, a sentence proceeding by
analysis enunciated in such a way as to give a complete idea ;
or, as Chrysippus says in his treatise on Definitions, it is the
explanation of an idea. Description is a sentence which, in a
figurative manner, brings one to a knowledge of the subject, or
it may be called a simpler kind of definition, expressing the
power of a definitioin in plaioflr language Genua is a com-
prehending of many ideas indissolubly connected, as animal ;
for this one expression oomprebends all particular kinds of -
animals. An idea is an imagination of the mind which does
not express actually anything real, or any quaUty, but only a
quasi reality and a, quad quality; such, for instance, is the idea
of a horse when a horse is not present. Species ia that which
is comiMrahended under genus, as xnan is comprehended under
animal.

Again, that is the most general genus which, being a genus
itself, has no other genus, as the existent. And that is the
most special species, which being a species has no other species,
as, for instance, Socrates.

XLIII. The division of genus is a dissection of it into the
proximate species ; as, for instance, Of animals, some are
rational, others irrational." Contrary division is the dissection
of genus into species on the principle of the contrary ; so as to
be by a sort of negation ; as, for instance, Of existent things,
some are good and some not good ; " and, Of things which are
not good, some are bad and some indifferent." Partition is an
arrangement of a genus with reference to place, as Crinis says,
for instance, ' Of goods, some have reference to the mind and
some to the body."

XLIV. Ambiguity (dc/x^ijSoX/a) is an expression signifying
two or more things having an ordinary or a peculiar meaning,
according to the pronunciation, in such a way that more things
than one may he understood by the very same expression.
Take, for instance, the words mitknr^h '^rWruju. For yon may
understand by them, a house has fallen down tln^e times
{avXriT^ii <nffrw»f), or, a female fiute-player has fallen, taking
a\fX7}T^ig as synonymous with a-jXtir^ta*

LY . Dialectics are, as Posidonius explains tfaem, the science

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of what is true and false, and neither one or the other, and it is,
as Chrysippus explains it, conversant about words that signify and
things that are signified ; these then are the doctrines asserted
by the Stoics in their speculations on the subject of the voice.

XLVI. But in that part of dialectics which concerns things
and ideas signified, they treat of propositions, of perfect enun-
ciations, of judgments, of syllogisms, of imperfect enuncia-
tions, of attributes and defidenees, aod of both direct and
indirect categorems or predicameiits.

XLVI I. And they aajthat enunoiatioii is the manifestation
of the ideal perception ; and these eauneiatioiiB the Stoics pro-
nounce some to be perfect in themselves, and some to be defec-
tive ; nowthoBe are defective, wliich furnish an incomplete sense,
as for instance, "He writes/' For then we ask further, "Who
writes?" But those are perfect in themselves, which give a
sense entirely complete, as for instance, *' Socrates writes."
Accordingly, in the defective enunciations, categorems are
applied ; but in those which are perfect in themsehes^ axioms,
and syllogisms, and qvestions, and interrogations, are brought
into play. Now a categorem is something which is predicated
of something else, being either a thing which is added to one
or more objects, according to the definition of Apollodorus, or
else a defective enunciation added to the nominative case, for
the purpose of forming a proposition.

Now of categorems, some are accidents • • • * as for in-
stance, The sailing through a rock." .... And of cate-
gorems, some are direct, some indirect, and some neither one
nor the other. Now those are correct, which are constmed
with one of the oblique cases, in such a manner as to produce
a categorem, as for instance, **He hears, he sees, he con-
verses." And those are indirect, which are constmed with
the passive voice, as for instance, " I am heard, I am seen.**

• Huerner thinks (a« indeed is evident) that somethinr^ is lost here ;
and propoaes to read the pentenee thus Tt5v Si KarriyoprjfidTiov rd
ftiv cari ffVfA^dfJkara (ug to ttXcZv, olov £<tfcpar]}( xXci. rd dk irapaavix-
^dftara itfc irlrpag irXcTv. With referenoe to which passage,

Liddell and floott, Gr. Eng. Lex. voc. evfi^afia, thus speak : " e^fifiiqia
. . . . as a philosophical term of the Stoic8~icari|y6piy/ia, a com-
plete predicament such as is an intransitive verb : e. g. Swcprtrijc
irepcirarfT ; while an imperfect verb was regarded as an incomplete
predioanMiit; t, a> Imt^dru /ieXet, and called wttpaavfiliafia, or

ZSNO

And those which are neither one iior the other, are those which
are construed in a neutral kind of maimer, as for instance,
" To think, to if^alk," And those are reciprocal, which are
among the indirect ones, with out heing indirect themselves.
Those are effects, in^fiara, which are such words as, He
is shaved ; " for then, the man who is shaved, impUes himself.

The oblique cases, are the genitive, the dative, and the
accusative.

XL VIII. An axiom, is that thing which is true, or false, or
perfect in itself, being asserted, or denied positively, as far as
depends upon itself ; as Chrysippus explains it in his Dialectic
Definitions; as for instance, "It is day," " Dion is walking."
And it has received the name of axiom, a^itniia, because it is
either maintained, d^iourcu, or repudiated. For the man who
says. " It is day," appears to maintain the fact of. its being
day. If then it is day, the axiom put before one is true ; but
if it is not day, the axiom is false. And an axiom, a question,
and an interrogation^ differ from one another, and so does an
imperative proposition from one which is adjurative, or impre-
catory, or hypothetical, or appellative, or false* For that is
an axiom which we utter, ^vhen we affirm anylihing positively,
which is either true or false. And a question is a thing com-
plete in itself, as also is an axiom, but which requires an
answer, as for instance, Is it day?" Now this is neither
true nor fsJae ; but, as ' It is day " is an axiom ; so is, Is it
day?" a question. But an interrogation, «^/EMe, is a thing
to which it is not possible to make an answer symbolically, as
in. the case of a question, f^wrjj^a, saying merely *' Yes," but
we must reply, " He does live in this place.*'

The imperative proposition is a thing which we utter when
we give an order, as for instance tins : —

Do yott now go to the iWMi atnam of TimohiiiL* ^

The appellative proposition is one which is used in the
ease in which, when a man says anything, be must address
somebody, as for instance

Atrides, glorious king of nen,
Most md^ty jkgameiimoii.t

A false judgment is a proposition, which, while it has at the

* Thft Uno Is from the Inaehiu of BophocIflB (ono of hit loet plays),
t Homer, Iliad IL 484.

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!i284 LIVES OF E3iIN£NT PHILOSOPHERS

same time tlie appearance of a real judgment, loses this
character by the addition, and under the influeuce of, some
particle, as for instance :

The Parthenon at least is beautifuL
How Uke the hflrdanuui ia to Friun's mob.

There is also the duUtative proposition, which differs from
the judgment, inasmuch as it is always uttered in the form of
a doubt; as tor instance : —

Are not, then, grief a&d life two kindred states

But questions, and interrogations, and things like these,
are neither true nor false, while judgments and propositions
are necessainlv one or the other.

Now of axioms, some are simple, and others are not simple;
as Chrysippus, and Archedemus, and Athenodoi us, and Anti-
pater, and Crinis, agree in dividing them. Those are simple,
which consist of an axiom or proposition, which is not am-
biguous, (or of several axioms, or propositions of the same
character,) as for instance the sentence, "It is day." And
those are not simple, which consist of an axiom or proposition
which is ambiguous, or of several axioms or propositions of
that character. Of an axiom, or proposition, which is am-
biguous, as " If it is day;** of several axioms, or propositions
of that character, as, ** If it is day, it is light."

And simple propositions are divided into the affirmative,
the negative, the privative, the categorical, the definite, and
the indefinite ; those which are not simple, are divided into
the combined, and the adjunctive, the connected and the dis-
junctive, and tlie causal and the augmentative, and the dimi-
nutive. That is an affirmative proposition, "It is not day."
And the species of this is doubly affirmative. That again is
doubly affirmative, which is affirmative of an affirmative, as
for instance, ** It is not not day ; " for this amounts to, " It is
day.*' That is a negative proposition, wliich consists of a
negative particle and a categorem, as for instance, " No one is
walking." That is a privative proposition which consists of a
privative particle and an axiom according to power, as "This
man is inhuman." That is a categorical proposition, which
consists of a nominative case and a categorem, as for in-
stance, ** Dion is walknig." That is a definite proposition,

* This line is from the Citharista of Heoander.

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286

which consists of a demonstrative nomiDative case and a
categorem, as for instance, This man is walking." That is
an indefinite one ^hich consists of an indefinite particle, or
of indefinite particles, as for in8tance» Somebody is walk-
ing," " He is moving.*'

Of propositions which are not simple, the combined propo-
sition is, as Chrysippus states, in his Dialectics, and Diogenes,
too, in his Dialectic Art ; that which is held together by the
copulative ooijunction '* if/* And this conjunction professes
that the second member of the sentence follows the first, as
for instance, " If it is day, it is light." That which is adjunc-
tive is, as Crinis states in his Dialectic Art, an axiom which is
made to depend on the conjunction " since" (f«ii)> beginning
with an axiom and ending in an axiom, as for instance, *' Since
it is day« it is light" And this conjunction professes both that
the second portion of the proposition follows the first, and
the first is true. That is a connected proposition which is
connected by some copulative conjunctions, as for instance,
•* It both is day, and it is light." That is a disjunctive pro-
position which is disconnected by the disjunctive conjunction,
**or** (jjfro/,) as for instance, " It is either day or night." And
this proposition professes that one or other of these proposi*
tions is false. That is a causal proposition which is connected
hy the word, "because;" as for instance, ** Because it is day, it
is light.*^ For the first is, as it were, the cause of the second.
That is an augmentative proposition, which explains the
greater, which is construed mth an augmentative particle,
and which is placed between the two members of the pro-
position, as for instance, ** It is rather day than night." The
diminutive proposition is, in eveiy respect, the exact oontraiy
of the preceding me ; as for instance, ** It is less night than
day.** Again, at times, axioms or propositions are opposed to
one another in respect of their truth and falsehood, when one
is an express denial of the other; as for inatanoe, '* It is day,"
and, *' It is not day.**

Again, a coijunctiye proposition is correct, when it is such
that the opposite .of the conclusion is contradictoiy of the
premiss ; as for instance, the proposition, If it is day, it is
light,** is true ; for, " It is not light,'* which is the opposite to
the conclusion expressed, is contnidictoxy to the premiss, ** It
is day.** And a conjunctive proposition is incorrect, when it

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d88 UVBS OF BHINBNT FfllLOSOPHlSBd.

is such that the opposite of the eondnsion is not inoonsbtent
with the premiBs, as for instance, " If it is day, Dion is walk*
ing/* Far the fiict that Dion is not walking, is not contra*
dictoiy of the prenuss, It is day.**

An adjunctiTe proposition is correct, whidi hegins with a
true premiss, and ends in a conseqaence which follows of
necessity, as for instance, *' Since it is day, the sun is above
the earth.'* But it is incorrect when it either begins with a
false premiss, or ends with a consequence which does not fol-
low properly; as for instance, Since it is night, Dion is
walking/' for this may be said in the day-time.

A causal proposition is correct, when it begins with a true
premiss, and ends in a consequence which necessarily follows
from it, but yet does not hare its premiss reciprocallj con-
sequent upon its conclusion ; as for instance, ** Because it is
day, it is light.** For the foot of its being light, is a neces-
sary consequence of its being day ; but the foot of its being
day, is not necessarily a consequence of its being light. A
causal proposition is incorrect, which either begins with a &lse
premiss, or ends with a conclusion that does not follow from
It, or which has a premiss which does not correspond to the
eondnsion; as for instance, Because it is night, Dion is
walking.**

A propontaon is persuasiye, which leads to the assent of
the mind, as for instance, ^ If she brought him forth, she is
his mother.** But still this is a fisdsehood, for a hen is not
the mother of an egg. Again, there are some proportions
wludi are possible, and some which are impossible ; and some
which are necessary, and some which are not necessary. That
is possible, idiich is capable of being true, since external cir-
cumstances are no hintirance to its being true; as for instance,
" Diodes lives. ** And that is impossible which is not capable
of being true; as for instance, **The earth flies.*' That is
necessary which, being true, is not capable of being folse ; or
perhaps is intrinsicslly capable of being folse, but still has ex-
ternal dxoumstances whidi hinder its being folse, as for
instance, " Virtue profits a man." That again, is not neces-
sary, wldch is true, but which has a capacity of being folse»
though external circumstances offer no hindrance to either
alternative ; as for instance, " Dion walks.**

That is a reasonable or probable proposition, wfaidi has a

great preponderance of opportunities in favour of its being
true ; as for instance, I shall be alive to-morrow." And
there are other different kinds of propositions and conversions
of them, from true to false, and re-conversions again ; cun-
ceming which we must speak at some length.

XLIX. An argument, as Criuis says, is that which is com-
posed of a lemma or major premiss, an assumption or minor
premiss, and a conclusion ; as for instance this, " If it is day,
it is light;*' "But it is day, therefore it is light." For the
lemma, or major premiss, is, " If it is day, it is light." The
assumption, or minor premiss, is, "It is day,*' The conclusion
follows, " Therefore it is liglit." The mode of a proposition
is, as it were, a figure of an argument, as for instance, sucli as
this, " If it is the first, it is the second ; but it is the first,
therefore it is the second."

A conditional syllogism is that which is composed of both
the preceding arguments ; as for instance, " If Plato is alive,
Plato breathes ; but the first fact is so, therefore so is the
second." And this conditional syllogism has been introduced
for the sake, in long and complex sentences, of not being
forced to repeat the assumption, as it was a long one, and also
the conclusion ; l)ut of being able, instead, to content one*s
self with summing it up briefly thus, " The first case put is
true, therefore so is the second.**

Of arguments, some are conclusive, others are inconclusive.
Those are inconclusive which are such, that the opposite of
the conclusion drawn in them is not necessarily incompatible
with the connection of the premisses. As for instance, such
arguments as these, " If it is day, it is light ; but it is day,
therefore, Dion is walking." But of conclusive arguments,
some are called properly by the kindred name conclusions,
and some are called syllogistic arguments. Those then are
syllogistic which are either such as do not admit of demonstra-
tion, or such as are brought to an indemonstrable conclusion,
according to some one or more propositions ; such for instance
as the following : ** If Dion walks, then Dion is in motion."
Those are conclusive, which infer their conclusion specially,
and not syllogistically ; such for instance, as this, *' The
proposition it is both day and night is false. Now it is day ;
therefore, it is not night."

Those again, are unsyllogistic arguments which have au air

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288 UVES OF EMINENT PHILOSOPHERS.

of probability about them, and a resenibbmce to syllogistic
ones, but which sLiU do not lead to the de duction of proper
conclusions. As for instance, "If Dion is a horse, Dion is an
animal ; but Diou Ib uot a horse, therefore, JDioa is not an
animal."

Afi^ain, of arguments, some are true, and some sue false.
Those are true which deduce a conclusion from true premisses,
as, for instance, ** Tf virtue profits, then vice injures." And
those are false which have some falsehood in their premisses,
or which are inconclusive : as, for instance, If it is day, it is
light ; lint it is daj, therefore, Dion is alive."

There are also arguments which are possible, and others
which are impossible ; somo likewise which are necessar}% and
others which are not necessary. There are too, some which
are not demonstrated from their not standing in need of
demonstration, and these are laid down differently by different
people ; but Chrysippus enumerates five kinds, which serve aa
the foundation for every kind of argument ; and which are
assumed in conclusive arguments properly so called, and in
syllogisms, and in modes.

The first kind tliat is not demonstrated, is that in which the
whole argument consists of a conjunctive and an antecedent ;
and in which the first term repeats itseK so as to form a sort
of conjunctive proposition, and to bring forward as the conclu-
sion tiie last term. As, for instance, " If the first be true, so
is the second ; but the first is true, therefore, so is the second."
The second kind that is not demonstrated, is that which, by
means of the conjunctive and the opposite of the conclusion,
lias a conclusion opposite to the first premiss. As, for instance,
** If it be day, it is light ; but it is night, therefore it is not
day." For here the assumption arises from the opposite of
the conclusion, and the conclusion from the opposite of the
first term. The third kind that is not demonstrative, is that
which, by a negative combination, and by one of the terms in
the proposition, produces the contradictory of the remainder ;
as, for instance, " Plato is not dead and alive at the same
time l)ut Plato is dead ; therefore, Plato is not alive.** The
fourth kind that is not demonstrative, is that which, hy
means of a disjunctive, and one of those terms which are in
the disjunctive, has a conclusion opposite to wliat remains ;
as, for instance, " It is either the first, or the second ; but it

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ZENO,

289

is the first ; therefore, it is not the second." The fifth kind
that is not demonstrative, is that in which the whole ai'guraent
consists of a disjunctive ]M'opusitiun, and the opposite of one of
the terras, and then one makes the conclusion identical with
the remainder ; as, for histance, " It is either day or uight ;
but it is not night ; therefore it is day.*'

According to the Stoics, truth follows upon trutli, as " It is
light," follows upon *'It is day." And falsehood follows upon
falsehood ; as, " If it is false that it is night, it is also false that
it is dark." Sometimes too, truth follows from falsehood ; for
instance, though it is false that '* the earth flies," it is true
tliat *• there is the earth." But falsehood does never follow
from truth ; for, from the fact that there is the earth," it
does not follow " that the earth flies.'*

There are also some arguments which are perplexed, being
veiled and escaping notice ; or such as are called sorites, the
horned one, or the nobody. That is a veiled argument* which
resembles the following one ; " two are not a few, nor three,
nor those, nor four, and so on to ten ; but two are few ; there-
fore, so are ten few.'*

The nobody is a conjunctive argument, and one that consists
of the indefinite and the definite, and which has a minor pre-
miss and a conclusion ; as, for instance, If any one is here,
he is not in Rhodes."

L. Such then are the doctrines which the Stoics maintain
on the subject of logic, in order a% far as possible to establish
their point that the logician is the only wise man. For they
assert that all a£Q9Lirs are looked at by means of that speculation

* It would appear that there is a considerable hiatus here ; for the
instaiioe following is a sorites, sad not a specimen of Hie veiled aigu-
ment. And there is no instance given of the concealed, or of Sie
homed one. Still, the mere fact of the text being unintelligible, is far
from proving that we have not got it Diogenes wrote it ; as tliongh
in the language of the writer in Smith's Biographical Dictionary, voL
i. pp. 1022, 1023, "the work eontains a rich' store of Hying fea!tiires»
whioh serve to illustrate the private life of the Greeks," it is equally clear
that the author " was unequal to writing a history of Greek philosophy.
His work in reality is nothing but a compiifttion of the most hetero-

geneoua and often contradictory accounts The traces of

oarelessnesB and mfsfeakes an veiy numerooB; much In the wofk is con-
fused, and there is also much that is quite absurd. And as far as philo*
sophy itself is concerned, Diogenes very frequently did not know what
he was talking about when he abridged the theories of the philoaopheEB."

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390 LIVES OF EMINENT PHILOSOPHERS

which proceeds by argument, includiug under this assertion
both those that belong to natural and also those which belong
to moral philosophy : for, say they, how else could one deter-
mine the exact value of nouns, or how else could one explain
what laws are imposed upon such and such actions ? More-
over, as there are two liabits both incidental to virtue, the one
considers what each existing thing is, and the other inquires
what it is called. These then are tlie notions of the Stoics on
the subject of logic.

LI. The ethical part of philosophy they divide into the topic
of incHnation, the topic of good and bad, the topic of the
passions, the topic of virtue, the topic of the cliief good, and
of primary estimation, and of actions ; the topic of what things
are becominf:^, and of exhortation and dissuasion. And this
division is the one laid down by Chrysippus, and Archedemus,
and Zeno, of Tai'sus, and Apollodorus, and Diogenes, and
Antipater, and Posidonius. ¥or Zeno, of Cittium, and Clean-
thes, have, as being more ancient they were likely to, adopted
a more simple method of treating these subjects. But these
men divided logical and the natuml philosophy.

LII. They say that the first inclination which an animal
has is to protect itself, as nature brings herself to take an
interest in it from the beginning, as Chrysippus affirms in the
first book of his treatise on Ends ; where he says, that the
first and dearest object to every animal is its own existence,
and its consciousness of that existence. For that it is not
natural for any animal to be alienated from itself, or even to
be brought into such a state as to be indifferent to itself, being
neither alienated from nor interested in itself. It remains,
therefore, that we must assert that nature has bound the
animal to itself by the greatest unanimity and afPpction ;
for by tliat means it repels all that is injurious, and attracts
all that is akin to it and desirable. But as for what some
people say, that the first inclination of animals is to
pleasure, they say what is false. For they say that pleasure,
if there be any such thing at all, is an accessor}^ only, wliich,
nature, having sought it out by itself, as well as those things
which are adapted to its constitution, receives incidentally in
the same manner as animals are pleased, and plants made to
flourish.

Moreover, say they, nature makes no diilerence between

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ZKNO.

ftnimals and plants, when she regulates them so as to leave
them without voluntary motion or sense ; and some things too
take place in ourselves in the same manner as in plants. But,
as inclination in animals tends chiefly to the ptnnt of making
them pursue what is appropriate to them; we may say that
their inclinations are regulated by nature. And as reason is
given to rational animals according to a more perfect principle,
it follows, that to Hve correctly according to reason, is properly
predicated of those who live according to nature. For nature
Is as it were the artist who produces the inclination.

LIU. On which account Zeno was the first writer who, in
his treatffle on the Nature of Man, said, that the chief good was
confessedly to live according to nature ; which is to live ac-
cording to virtue, for nature leads us to this point. And in
like manner Cleanthes speaks in his treatise on Pleasure, and
80 do Posidonius and Hecaton in their essays on Ends as the
Chief Good. And again, to live according to virtue is the same
thing as living according to one's experience of those things
which happen by nature ; as Chrysippus explains it in the first
book of lus treatise on the Chief Good. For our individual -
natures are all parts of universal nature ; on which accoont the
chief good is to live in a manner corresponding to nature, and
that means corresponding to one's own nature and to universal
nature ; doing pone of those things which the common law of
mankind is in the habit of forbidding, and that common law
is identical with that right reason which pervades eveiything,
being the same with Jupiter, who is the regulator and chief
manager of all existing things.

Again, this very thing is the virtue of the happy man and
the perfect happiness of life when everything is done according
to a harmony with the genius of each individual with reference
to the will of the universal governor and manager of all
things. Diogenes, accordingly, says expressly that the chief
good is to act according to sound reason in our selection of
things according to our nature. And Archidemns defines it to
be living in the discharge of all becoming duties. Chrysippus
again understands that the nature, in a manner corresponding
to which we ought to live, is both the common nature, and also
human nature in particular; but Cleanthes will not admit of
any other nature than the oommon one alone, as that to whidi
people ought to live in la manner cofiesponding; and re*

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29d UY£S OF EMINENT PfilLOSOPHEBS.

pudiates all mention of a particular nature. And he asserts
that virtue is a disposition of the mind always consistent and
always harmonious ; that one ought to seek it out for its own
sake, without heing influenced hy fear or hope by any external
influence. MoreoTer, that it is in it that happiness consists, as
producing in the soul the harmony of a life always consistent
with itself; and that if a rational animal goes the wrong way,
it is because it allows itself to be misled by the deceitful
appearances of exterior things, or perhaps by the instigation
of those who surround it; for nature herself never gives us any
but good indiniitions.

LIV. Now virtue is, to speak generally, a perfection in
everything, as in the case of a statue ; whether it is invisible
as good health, or speculative as prudence. For Hecaton says,
in the first book of bis treatise on Virtues, that the scientific
and speculative virtues are those which have a constitution
arising from speculation and study, as, for instance, prudence
and justice ; and that those which are not speculative are those
whidi are generally viewed in their extension as a practical
result or effect of the former ; such for instance, as healUi
and strength. Accordingly, temperance is one of the specu-
lative virtues, and it happens that good health usually fi)llow8
it, and is marshalled as it were beside it ; in the same way as
strength follows the proper structure of an arch. — And the
UDspeculative virtuee derive their name from the fact of their
not proceeding £rom any acquiescence reflected by intelli-
gence ; but they are derived from others, are only accessories,
and are found even in worthless people, as in the case of good
health, or courage. And PosidoniuSy in the first book of his
treaties on Ethics, sa;ys that the great proof of the reali^ of
virtue is that Socarates, and Diogenes, and Antislhenes, made
great improvement ; and the great proof of the reality of vice
may be found in the fetct of its being opposed to virtue.

Again, Chrysippus, in the first book of his treatise on the
Chief Goodt and Cleanthes, and also Posidonius in his Ex-
hortations, and Hecaton, all agree that virtue may be taught.
And that they are right, and that it may be taught, is plain
from men becoming good after having been bad. On this
account Panaedus teaches that there are two virtues, one
speculative and the other practical ; but others make three
lands, the logical, the natural, and the ethical. Posidonius

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ZENO.

divides virtue into four divisions ; and Cleanthes, Chrysippus,
and Antipater make the divisions raore numerous still ; for
ApoUophanes asserts that there is but one virtue, namely,
prudence.

Among the virtues some are primitive and some are derived.
The primitive ones are prudence, manly courage, justice, and
temperance. And subordinate to these, as a kind of species
contained in them, are magnanimity, continence, endurance,
presence of mind, wisdom in council. And the Stoics define
prudence as a knowledge of what is good, and bad, and in-
different ; justice as a knowledge of what ought to be chosen,
what ought to be avoided, and what is indifferent ; magnanimity
as a knowledge of engendering a lofty habit, superior to all
such accidents as happen to all men indifferently, whether
they be good or bad ; continence they consider a disposition
which never abandons right reason, or a habit which never
yields to pleasure ; endurance they call a knowledge or habit
by which we understand what we ought to endure, what we
ought not, and what is indifferent ; presence of mind they
define as a habit which is prompt at finding out what is
suitable on a sudden emerirencv ; and wisdom in counsel they
think a knowledge which leads us to judge what we are to do, *
and how we are to do it, in order to act becomingly. And
analogously, of vices too there are some which are pnmarj',
and some which are subordinate ; as, for instance, folly, and
cowardice, and injustice, and intemperance, are among the
primary vices ; incontinence, slowness, and folly in counsel
among the subordinate ones. And the vices are ignorance of
those things of which the virtues are the knowledge.

LV. Good, looked at in a general way, is some advantage,
with the more particular distiiv't ion, being ])artly what is actually
useful, partly what is not contrary to utiHty. On which account
virtue itself, and the good which partakes of virtue are spoken
of in a threefold view of the subject. First, as to what kind
of good it is, and from what it ensues ; as, for instance, in an
action done according to virtue. Secondly, as to the ageut,
in the case of a good man who partakes of virtue*

• • • • . • <!•

+ The third point of view is wanting ; and those that are given
appear to be iU aeleoted. The French translAtor, foUowing the hint of

204 LIVES OF EKINKNT PHILO0OPHSB8.

At another time, they define the good in a peculiar manner,
as being what is perfect according to the nature of a rational
being as rational being. And, secondly, they say that it is
conformity to virtue, so that all actions which partake of
virtae, and all good men, are themaelves in some sense the
good. And in the third place, they speak of its accessories,
joy, and mirth, and things of that kind. In the same manner
they qpeak of Tices, which they divide into folly, cowardice,
injustice, and things of that kind. And they consider that
those thh^ which partake of vices, and actions done according
to vioey and had men, are tliemselves in some sense the evil ;
and its accessories are despondenqr, and melancholy, and other
things of that kind.

LVI. Again, of goods, some baye reference to the mind,
and some are external; and some neither have reference to
the mind, nor are extenial. The goods having reference to the
mind are virtues, and actions according to & virtues. The
external goods are the having a virtuous countiy, a virtuous
iriend, and the happiness of one's country and Mend. And
those which are not external, and wludh have no reference
to the mind, are such as a man's being virtuous- and happy to
himself. And reciprocally, of evils, some have reference to
the mind, such as llie vices and actions according to them ;
some are external, such as having a foolish oountiy, or a foolish
friend, or one's countiy or one's Mend being unhappy. And
those evils which are not external, and which have no reference
to the mind, are such as a man's being worthless and unhappy
to himself.

LVII. Again, of goods, some are final, some are efficient,
and some are both final and efficient. For instance, a fiiend,

Huebner, gives the following pasaaf^e from Sextus Empiricus (a physi-
clan of the Sceptic acbool, about b.c. 250), in his work against the
Fhiloaophen^^whioh he says may serve to rectify and complete the
Btatement of Diogenes Laertius. " Good is said in one sense of that

which produces the useful, or from which the useful results ; that is,
the good par exceUenre, virtue. For virtue \^ as it were the source
from which all utility naturally flows. In another sense it is said of
that whieh is accidentally the cause of ntOity ; under thia point of
yiew we call good not only virtue^ but also those actions which are
conformable to virtue, for they are accidentally useful. lu the third
and last placi-, we call good everything that possibly can be useful,
comprehending under this definition virtuei, virtuous actions, friends,
good men, the Qods, &c., &o.*

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and the services done by him to one, are efficient goods ;
but coumge, and prudence, and hberty, and delight, and
mirth, and freedom from pain, and all kinds of actions done
according to virtue, are final goods. There are too, as I said
before, some goods which ai'e both efficient and final ; for
inasmuch as they produce perfect happiness they are efficient,
and inasmuch as they complete it by being themselves parts
of it, they are final. And in the same way, of evils, some are
final, and some efficient, and some partake of both natures.
For instance, an enemy and the injuries done to one by him,
are efficient evils ; fear, meanness of condition, slavery, want
of delight, depression of spirits, excessive grief, and all actions
done according to vice, are final evils ; and some partake of
both characters, since, inasmuch as they produce perfect
unhappiness, they are efficient; and inasmuch as they complete
it in such a way as to become parts of it, they are final.

LVIII. Again, of the goods which have reference to the
mind, some are habits, some are dispositions, and some are
neither habits nor dispositions. Dispositions are virtues,
habits are practices, and those which are neither habits nor
dispositions are energies. And, speaking generally, the
following may be called mixed goods : happiness in one's
cliildren, and a happy old age. But knowledge is a pure good.
And some goods ai'e continually present, such as virtue ; and
some are not always present, as joy, or taking a walk.

LIX. But every good is expedient, and necessary, and
profitable, and useful, and serviceal)le, and beautiful, and
advantageous, and eligible, and just. Expedient, inasmuch as
it brings us things, which by their happening to us do us
good ; necessary, inasmuch as it assists us in what we have
need to be assisted ; profitable, inasmuch as it repays all tlie
care that is expended on it, and makes a return with interest
to our great advantage ; useful, inasmuch as it supplies us
with what is of utility ; serviceable, because it does us service
which is much praised ; beautiful, because it is in accurate
proportion to the need we have of it, and to the service it
does. Advantiigeous, inasmuch as it is of such a character as
to confer advantage on us ; eligible, because it is such that we
may rationally choose it ; and just, because it is iu accordance
with law, and is an efficient cause of union.
And they call the honourable the perfect good, because it

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has naturally all the numbers which are required bj nature,
and because it discloses a perfect harmony. Now, the species
of this perfect good are four in number : justice, manly courage,
temperance, and knowledge ; for in these goods all beautiful
actions have their accomplishment. And analogously, there
are also four species of the disgraceful : injustice, and cowardice,
and intemperance, and folly. And the honourable is predicated
in one sense, as making those who are possessed of it worthy
of all praise ; and in a second sense, it is used of whnt is well
adapted by nature for its jiroper work ; and in anotlier sense,
when it expresses that which adonis a man, £is when we say
that the wise man alone is good and honourable.

The Stoics also say, that the beautiful is the only good^ as
Hecaton says, in the third book of his treatise on Goods, and
Chrysippus asserts the same principle iii liis essays on the
Beautiful. And they say that this is virtue, and that which
partakes of \'irtue ; and this assertion is equal to the other,
that everything good is beautiful, and that the good is nn
equivalent term to th(; beautiful, inasmuch as the one thuig is
exactly equal to the other. For since it is good» it is beautiful;
and it is beautiful, therefore, it is good.

LX. Rut it seems that all goods are equal, and that every
good is to be desired in the highest degree, and that it admits
of no relaxation, and of no extension. Moreover, they divide
all existing things into good, bad, and indifferent. The good
are the virtues, prudence, justice, manly courage, temperance,
and the rest of die like qualities. The bad are the contraries,
folly, injustice, and the like. Those are indifferent which are
neither beneficial nor injurious, such as life, health, pleasure,
beauty, strength, riches, a good reputation, nobility of birth ;
and their contraries, death, disease, labour, disgrace, weakness,
poverty, a bad reputation, baseness of birth, and the Hke ; as
Hecaton lays it down in the seventh book of his treatise on
the Chief Good ; and he is followed by Apollodorus, in his
Ethics, and by Chrysippus. For they affirm that those things
are not good but indifferent, though peiliapB a little more near
to one species than to the other.

For, as it is the property of the hot to warm and not to
chill one, so it is the property of the good to benefit and not
to injure one* Now, wealth and good health cannot be said
to benefit any more than to iigure any one : thereforOt neither

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wealth nor good health are goods. Again, they say that that
thing is not good which it is possible to use both well and ill.
But it is possible to make either a good or a bad use of wealth,
or of health ; therefore, wealth and good health are not goods.
Posidoniiis, however, afiirms that these things do come under
the head of goods. But Hecaton, in the nineteeiuh book of
his treatise on Goods, and Chrysippus, in his treatises on
. Pleasure, both deny that pleasure is a good. For they say
that there are disgraceful pleasures, and that nothing disgrace-
ful is good. And that to benefit a person is to move him or
to keep him according to virtue, but to injure bim is to move
him or to keep him ticcording to vice.

They also assert, that things indifferent are so spoken of in
a twofold manner ; firstly, those things are called so, which
have no influence in producing either happiness or unhappi-
ness ; such for instance, as riches, glory, health, strength, and
the like ; for it is possible for a man to be happy without any
of these things ; and also, it is upon the character of the use
that is made of them, that happiness or unhappiness depends.
In another sense, those things are called indifferent, which
do not exite any inclination or aversion, as for instance, the
&ct of a man's having an odd or an even number of hairs on
his head, or his putting out or dra^g back his finger ; for
it is not in this sense that the things previously mentioned
are called indifferent, for they do excite inclination or aver^
sion. On which account some of them are chosen, though
there is equal reason for preferring or shunning all the
Others.

LXI. Again, of things indifferent, they call some pre-
ferred (irj^ftny/^^i/a), and others nijected (aTOT^oriyfiiva). Those
are preferred, which have some proper value (d^/dev), and those
are rejected, which have no value at all {aira^tdv g;^ovra).
And by the term proper value, they mean that quality of
things, which causes them to concur in producing a well*
regulated life ; and in this sense, eveiy good has a proper
value. Again, they say that a thing has value, when in some
point of view, it has a sort of intermediate power of aiding us
to live oonfbrmaUy to nature ; and under this class, we may
range riches or good health, if they give any assistance to
natural life. Again, value Is predicated of the price which
one gives Ibr me attainment of an object, which some one.

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who has experience of) the object sought, fixes as its fair price ;
as if we were to say, for instance, that as some wheat was to
he exclianged for barley, with a mule thrown in to make up
the difference. Those goods then are preferred, which have a
value, as in the cose of the mental goods, ability, skill, im-
provement, and the like ; and in the case of the corporeal
goods, life, health, strength, a good constitution, soundness,
beauty; and in the case of external goods, riches, glory,
nobility of birth, and the like.

Rejected things are, in the case of qualities of the mind,
stupidity, unskilfulness, and the like ; in tlie case of circum-
stances affecting the body, death, disease, weakness, a bad
constitution, mutilation, disgrace, and the like ; in the case
of external circumstances, poverty, want of reputation, ignoble
birth, and the like. But those qualities and circumstances
which are indifferent, are neither preferred nor rejected.
Again, of things preferred, some are preferred for their own
sakes, some for the sake of other tilings, and some partly for
their own sakes and partly for that of other things. Those
which are preferred for their own sakes, are ability, improve-
ment, and the like ; those which are preferred for the sake of
other things, are wealth, nobility of birth, and the like ; those
which are preferred partly for their own sake, and paitly for
that of something else, are strength, vigour of the senses,
universal soundness, and the like ; for they are prefened, for
their own sakes, inasmuch as they are in accordance with
nature ; and for the sake of something else, inasmuch as
they are pnxluctive of no small number of advantages ; and
the same is the case in the inverse xatio, with those things
which are rejected.

LXII. Again, they say that that is duty, which is preferred,
and which contains in itself reasonable arguments why we
should prefer it ; as for instance, its corresponding to the
nature of life itself ; and this argument extends to plants and
animals, for even their nature is subject to the obligation of
certain duties. And duty (rh xadr^xov) had this name given to
it by Zeuo, in the first instance, its appellation being derived
from its coming to, or according to some people, d'lrh rou xard
Ttvcci nxtiv ; and its effect is something kindred to the prepa-
rations made by nature. Now of the things done according
to inclination, some are duties, and some are contrary to
4ut^; and some are neither duties nor contrary to duty.

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Those are duties, wliioh reason selects to do, as for instance,
to honour one's parents, one*8 brothers, one*s country, to
gratify one's friends. Those actions are contrary to duty,
which reason does not choose; as fur instance, to neglect one's
parents, to be indifferent to one's brothere, to shirk assisting
one's friends, to be careless about the welfare of one's country,
and so on. Those are neither duties, nor contrary to duty,
which reason neither selects to do, nor, on the other hand,
repudiates, such actions, for instance, as to pick up straw, to
hold a pen, or a comb, or things of that sort

Again, there sire some duties which do not depend on cir-
cumstances, and some which do. These do not depend on
circumstances, to take care of one's health, and of the sound
state of one's senses, and the like. Those which do depend
on circumstances, are tlie mutilation of one's members, the
sacrificing of one's property, and so on. And the case of
those actions which are contrary to duty, is similar. Again,
of duties, somo aie ahva^ s such, and some are not always.
What is always a duty, is to live in accordance with virtue ;
but to ask questions, to give answers, to walk, and tlie like,
are not always duties. And the same statement holds good
with respect to acts contraiy to duty.

There is also a class of intermediate duties, such as the
duty of boys obeying their masters.

LXIII. The Stoics also say that the mind is divisible into
eight parts ; for that the five organs of sensation, and the
vocal power, and the intellectual power, which is the mind
itself, and the generative power, are all parts of the mind.
But by error, there is produced a perversion which operates on
the intellect, from which many perturbations arise, and many
causes of inconstancy. And all perturbation is itself, accord-
ing to Zeno, a movement of the mind, or superfluous inclina-
tion, which is irrational, and contrary to nature. Moreover,
of the [superior class of perturbations, as Hecaton says, in the
second book of Ins treatise on the Passions, and as Zeno
also says in his work on the Passions, there are four kinds,
grief, fear, desire, and pleasure. And they consider that
these perturbations are judgments, as Chrysippus contends in
his work on the Passions ; for covetoiisness is an opinion that
money is a beautiful object, and in like manner drunkenness
and intemperance, and other things of the sort, are judg-

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ments. And grief they define to "be an irrational contraction
of the mind, and it is divided into the following species, pity,
envy, emulation, jealousy, pain, perturbation, sorrow, anf:^iiish,
confusion. Pity is a grief over some one, on the ground of
his being in undeserved distress. Envy is a grief, at the good
fortune of another. Emulation is a grief at that belonging to
some one else, which one desires one s self. Jealousy is a
grief at another also having what one has one*s self. Pain is
a grief which weighs one down. Perturbation is grief which
narrows one, and causes one to feel in a strait. Sorrow is a
grief arising from deliberate thought, which endures for some
time, and gradually increases. Anguish is a grief with acute
pain. Confusion is an irrational grief, which frets one, and
prevents one from clearly discerning present circumstances.
But fear is the expectation of evil ; and the following feelings
are all classed under the head of faar: apprehension, hesita-
tion, shame, perplexity, trepidation^ and anxiety. Apprehen-
sion is a fear which produces alarm. Shame is a fear of dis-
credit. Hesitation is a fear of coming activity. Perplexity
is a fear, from the imagination of some nnnsuid thing. Tre-
pidation is a fear accompanied with an oppression of the voice.
Anxiety is a fear of some uncertain event.

Again, desire is an irrational appetite ; to which head, the
following feelings are referrible : want, hatred, contentiousness,
anger, love, enmity, rage. Want is a desire arising from our
not living something or other, and is, as it were, separated
from the thing, bnt is still stretching, and attracted towards it
in vain. And hatred is a desire tiiat it should be ill with
some one, accompanied with a certain continual increase and
extension. Oontentionsness is a certain desire accompanied
with deliberate choice. Anger is li desire of revenge, on a
person who appears to have iigured one in an nnbeooming
waj. Love is a desire not conversant about a virtuous object^
for it is an attempt to conciliate affection, because of some
beauty whidi is seen. Enmity a certain anger of long
duration, and fhll of hatred, and it ia a watchM passion, as is
shown in the following lines

For though we deem the shorl-liv*d fury past^
'Tis sure the mighty will revenge at Uuit *

* Horn. n. I. 81. Pope*ii Tertion, L 105.

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But rage is anger at its commencemeTit.

Again, pleasure is an irrational elation of the raintl over
something which appeal's to he desirable ; and its dilTerent
species are enjoyment, rejoicing at evil, delight, and extrava-
gant joy. Enjoyment now, is a pleasure which charms the
mind through the ears. Rejoicing at evil (ii-iy^ai^ixax/d), is a
pleasure which arises at the misfortunes of others. Delight
{ri^-^ig,) that is to say turning (r^i-sl/zg), is a certain turning of
the soul ('jr^oT^o'^rr} rig to softness. Extravagant joy is

the dissolution of virtue. And as there are said to be some
sicknesses {a^oc>jsrrj/iiaTa,)m the body, as, for instance, gout and
arthritic disorders ; yo too are those diseases of the soul, such as a
fondness for glory, or for pleasure, and other feelings of that sort.
For an d^'^uxfrri/JLa is a disease accompanied with weakness ;
and a disease is an opinion of something which appears ex-
ceedingly desirable. And, as in the case of the body, there •
aie illnesses to which people are especially liable, such as
colds or diarrhoea ; so also are there propensities which the
mind is under the influence of, such as enviousness, pitifulness,
quarrelsomeness, and so on.

There are also three^ggod diapoaitions of the mind ; joy.
caution^ and "w^I. And joy they say is the opposite of pleasure,
since it is a rational elation of the mind ; so caution is the
opposite of fear, being a rational avoidance of anything, for
the Tiise man will never be afraid, but he will act with caution;
and will, they define as the opposite of desire, since it is a
rational wish. As therefore some things fiill under the dass
of the first perturbations, in the same manner do some things
fail under the class of the first good dispositions. And
accordingly, under the head of will, are classed goodwill,
placidity, salutation, affection; and under the head of caution
are ranged reverence and modesty; under the head of joy,
we speak of delight, mirth, and good spirite.

liXiy. They aay also, Uiat the wise man is iree from per-
turbations, because he has no strong propensities. But that
this freedom from propensities also exists in the bad man,
being, however, then quite another thing, inasmuch as it pro-
^ceeds in him only from the hardness and unimpressibility of
his nature. Th^ also pronounce the wise man free from
▼anity, since he regards with eqiud eye what is gloiions and
what is inglorious. At the same time, they admit that there

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is another character devoid of vanity, who, however, is only
reckoned one of the rash men, being in fjuot the bad man.
They also say that all the virtuous men are austere, because
they do never, speak with reference to pleasore, nor do they
listen to what is said by others idth reference tx> pleasure.
At the same time, they call another man austere too, using the
term in nearly the same sense as they do when they speak of
austere wine, which is used in compounding medicines, but
not for drinking*

They also pronounce the wise to be honest-hearted men,
anxiously attending to those matters which may make them
better, by means of some principle which conceals what is
bad, and brings to light what is good. Nor is there any
hypocrisy about them ; for they cut off all pretence in their
voice and appearance . They also keep aloof from business ; for
they guard carefully against doing any thing contrary to
their duty. They drink wine, but they do not get drunk ;
and they never yield to frenzy. Occasionally, extraordinazy
imaginations may obtain a momentary power over them,
owing to some melancholy or trifling, arising not according to
the principle of what is desirable, but contrary to nature.
Nor, again, will the wise man feel grief; because grief is an
irrational contraction of the soul, as Apollodorus defines it
in his £thic8.

They are also, as they say, godlike ; for they have something
in them which is as it were a God. But the bad man is an
atheist. Now there arc two kinds of atheists ; one who
speaks in a spirit of hostility to, and the other, who utterly
msregBtrds, the divine nature ; but they admit that all bad
men are not atheists in this last sense. The good, on the
contrary, are pious ; for they have a thorough acquaintance
with the laws respecting the Gods. And piety is a knowledge
of the proper reverence and worship due to the Gods.
Moreover they sacrifice to the Gods, and keep themselves
pure; for they avoid all offences having reference to the
Gods, and the Gods admire them ; for they are holy and just
in all that concerns the Dei^; and the wise men are the
only priests ; for they consider the matters relatmg to sacri-**
fices, and the erection of temples, and purifications, and all
otiier things which peculiarlj concern the Gods. They
also pronounce that men are bound to honour their parents,
and their brethren, in the second place after the Gods.

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They also say that parental affection for one's children is
natural to them, and is a feeling which does not exist in bad
men. And they lay down the position that all offences are
equal, as Chrysippus argues in the fourth book of his Ethic
Questions, and so say Persseus and Zeno. For if one thing
that is true is not more true than another thing that is trae,
neither is one thing that is false more false than another
thing that is false; so too, one deceit is not greater than another,
nor one sin than another. For the man who is a hmidred
furlongs from Canopns, and the man who is only one, are both
equally not in Ganopus ; and so too, he who commits a greater
sin, and he who commits a less, are both equally not in
the right path.

Heiadides of Tarsus, indeed, the friend of Antipater, of
Tarsus, and Athenodori|s, both assert that offences are not
equal.

Again, the Stoics, as for instance, Chrysippus, in the first
book of his work on Liyes, say^ that the wise man will take a
part in the affidrs of the state, if nothing hinders him. For
that he will restrain vice, and excite men to virtue. Also,
they say that he will many, as Zeno says, in his Bepublic,
and beget children, if ^^raftvAi*, fh^f-^ tba i^'i^^ unll *iA^Ar

form m^re o]^nion8,.that is to say, he will never agree to
anything that is Mse ; and that he will become a Cynic ; for
that Cynicism is a short path to virtue, as ApoUodorus calls
it in his Ethics ; that he will even eat human fiesh, if there
should be occasion ; that he is the only free man, and that
the bad are slaves ; for that freedom is a power of indepen-
dent action, but slavery a deprivation of the same. That
there is besides, another slavery, which consists in subjectiout
and a third which consists in possession and subjection ; the
contrary of which is masterhood, which is likewise bad.

And they say, that not only are the wise free, but that they
are also kings, since kingly power is an irresponsible dominion,
which can only exist in the case of the wise man, as Chry-
sippus says in his treaUse on the Proper Apphcation of his
Terms made by Zeno ; for he says that a ruler ought to give
. decisions on good and evil, and that none of tiie wicked
understand these things. In the same way, they assert that
they are the only people who are fit to be magistrates or
judges, or orators, and tliat none of the bad are qualified for.
these tasks. Moreover, that they are free from all error, iu

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consequence of their not l)eing prone to any wron^ actions.
Also, that they are unconnected with injury, for that they
never injure any one else, nor themselves. Also, that they
are not pitiful, and that they never make allowance for any
one ; for that they do not relax the punishments appoint* d hy
law, since yielding, and pity, and mercifuhiess itself, never
exist in any of their souls, so as to induce an atfectation of
kindness in respect of punishment ; nor do they ever think
any punishment too severe. Again, they say that the wise
man never wonders at any of the things which appear extra-
ordinaiy ; as for instance, at the stories about Charon, or the
ebbing of the tide, or the springs of hot water, or the burst-
ing forth of flames. But, say they further, the wise man
will not live in solitude ; for he is by nature sociable and
])ractical. Accordingly, he will take ^exercise for the sake of
iiardening and invigorating his body. And the wise man will
pray, asking good things from the (lods, as Posidonius says iii
the first book of his treatise on Duties, and Hecaton says the
same tiling in the thirteenth hook of his treatise on Extra-
ordinary Things.

They also say, that friendship exists in the virtuous alone,
on account of their resemblance to one another. And they
describe friendship itself as a certain communiou of the things
which concern life, siuce we use our friends as ourselves. And
they assert that a friend is desirable for his own sake, and that
a number of friends is a good ; and that among the wicked
there is no such thing as friendship, and that no wicked man
can have a friend.

Again, they say that all the foolish are mad ; for that they
816 not prudent, and that madness is equivalent to folly in
every one of its actions ; but that the wise ma& does every*
thing properly, just as we say that Ismenias can phiy eveiy
piece of flute-music well. Also, they say that everything
belongs to the wise man, for that the law has given them
perfect and universal power ; but some things iko are said to
belong to the wicked, just in the same manner as some things
are said to belong to the unjust, or as a house is said to belong
to a city in a different sense from that in which a thing belongs
to the person who nses it

LXV. And they say that virtues reciprocally follow one
auother» and that he who has one has all ; for that the precepts

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of them all are common, as Chrysippus affinus in the first
book of his treatise on Laws ; and Apollodorus, in his Natural
Philosophy, according to the ancient system ; and Hecaton, in
the third book qf his treatise ou Virtues. For they say that
the man who is endued with virtue, is able to consider and /
also to do what must be done. But what must be done must
be chosen, and encountered, and distributed, and awaited ; so
'that if the man does some things by deliberate choice, and
some in a sj)irit of endurance, and some distributively, and
some patienUy ; he is prudent, and courageous, and just, and
temperate. And each of the virtues has a particular subject
of ii& own, about which it is conversant ; as, for instance,
courage is conversant about the tlungs which must be endured ;
prudence is convei-sant about what must be done and what
must not, and what is of a neutral or indifferent character.
And in like manner, the other virtues are conversant about
their own peculiar subjects; and wisdom in counsel and
shrewdness follow prudence ; and good order and decorum
follow temperance ; and equslity and goodness of judgment
follow justice ; and constancy and energy follow courage.

Another doctrine of the Stoics is, that there is nothing
intermediate between virtue and vice ; while the Peripatetics
assert that there is a stage between virtue and vice^ being an
improvement on vice which has not yet arrived at virtue. For
the Stoics say, that as a stick must be either stniight or
crooked, so a man must be either just or unjust, and cannot
be more just than just, or more unjust than ui^ust ; and that
the same rule implies, to sll cases. Moreover, Chrysippus is
of opinion that wtue can be lost, but Cleanthes sffirms that
it cannot ; the one saying that it can be lost by drunkenness
or melancholy, the other maintaining that it cannot he lost on
account of the firm perceptions which it implants in men.
They also pronounce it a proper object of choice ; accordingly,
we are ashamed of actions which we do improperly, while we
are aware that what is honourable is the only good. Again,
they affirm that it is of itself sufficient for happiness, as Zeno
says, and he is followed in this assertion by Chrysippus in the
first book of his treatise on Virtues, and by Hecaton in the
second book of his treatise on Goods.

** For if," says he, '* magnanimity be sufficient of itself to
cimble ua to act m a manner superior to all other men ; and

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if that is a part of virtue, then virtue is of itself sufficient for
happiness, despising all things which stom troublesome to it.*'
However, Pansetius and Posidonius do not admit that virtue
has this sufficiency of itself, but say that there is also need of
good health, and competency, and strength. And their of jinion
is that a man exercises virtue in ever^'thing, as Cleanthes
asserts, for it cannot be lost; and the virtuous man on every
occasion exercises his soul, which is in a state of perfection.

LXVI. Again, they say that justice exists by nature, and
not because of any definition or principle ; just as law does,
or right reason, as Chrj^sippus tells us in his treatise on the
Beautiful ; and they think that one ought not to abandon
philosophy on account of the different o^fiiiions prevailing
among philosophers, since on this principle one would wholly
quit life, as Posidonius argues in his Exhortatory Essays.
Another doctrine of Chiysyppus is, that general learning is
very useful.

And the School in general maintain that there are no •
obligations of justice binding on us with reference to otlier
animals, on account of their dissimilarity to us, as Clin sippui^
asserts in the first book of his treatise on Justice, and the
same opinion is maintained by Posidonius in the first book of
his treatise on Duty. They say too, that the wise man will
love tliose young men, who by tlieir outward appearance, show
ft natural aptitude for virtue ; and this opinion is advanced by
Zeno, in his Piepublic, and by Chr}'sippus in the first book of
his work on Lives, and by Apollodorus in his p'tliics. And
they describe love as an endeavour to benefit a friend on
account of his visible beauty : and that it is an attribute not
of acfpiaintanceship, but of friendship. Accordingly, that
Thrasmides, although he had his mistress in his power,
abstained from her, because he was hated by her. Love,
therefore, according to them is a part of friendship, as Chry-
sippus asserts in his essay on Love ; and it is not blameable.
Moreover, beauty is the flower of virtue.

And as there are three kinds of lives ; the theoretical, the
pnictical, and the logical ; they say that the last is the one
which ought to be chosen. For that a logical, that is a rational,
animal was made by nature on purpose for speculation and
action. And they say that a wise man will very rationally
take himself oat of life, either for the sake of his country or of

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his friends, or if he be in bitter pain, or under the affliction
of mutilation, or incurable disease. And they also teach that
women ought to be in common among the wise, so that who-
ever meets with any one may enjoy her, and this doctrine is
maintained by Zeno in his llepubhc, and by Chrysippus in
his treatise on Polity, and by Diogenes the Cynic, and by
Plato ; and then, say they, we shall love all boys equally after
the manner of fathers, and all suspicion on th» ground of
unduo familiarity will be removed.

They affirm too, that the best of political constitutions is a
mixed one, combined of democracy, and kingly power, and
aristocracy. And they say many things of this sort, and more
too, in their £thical Dogmas, and they maintain them by
suitable explanations and arguments. But this may be enough
for us to say of their doctrines on this head by my of summaiy!
and taking them in an elementary manner,

LXVJJ. They divide natural philosophy into the topics of
bodies, and of principles, and of elements, and of Gods, and of
boundaries, and of place, and of the vacuum. And they make
these divisions according to species ; but according to genera
they divide them into three topics, that of the world, tiuit of
the elements, and the third is that which reasons on causes.
The topic about the world, they say, is subdivided into two
parts. For ihat in one point of view, the mathematicians
also have a share in it; and aocording to it it is that ibey
prosecute their investigpitions into the nature of the fixed
stars and the planets ; as, fnr instance, whether tbe sun is of
such a size as he appears to be, and similarly, whether the
moon is; and in the same way they investigate die question of
spherical motion, and otheisc^ the same character. The
other pomt of view is that which is reserved exclusively for
natural philosophers, according to which it is that the existence
and substance of things are examined, [for instance, whether
the sun and thestsrs consist of matter and form,] and whether
the sun is bom or not bom, whether it is living or lifeless,
corruptible or inconruptible, whether it is regulated by Provi-
dence, and other questions ef this kind.

The topic which examines into causes they say is also
divisible into two parts ; and with reference to one of its
considerations, the investigataons of physicians partake of it ;
according to which it is that they investigate the dominant

X 2

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principle of the suul, and the things which exist in the
soul, and seeds, and things of this kind. And its other
division is claimed as buluiiging to them also hy the mathema-
ticians, as, for instiuice, how we see, what is the cause of our
appearance being reflected in a niinor, how clouds are collected,
how tlmnder is produced, and the rainbow, and the halo, and
comets, and things of that kind.

LXVIII. They think that there are two general principles
in the universe, the active and the passive. That the passive
is matter, an existence without any distinctive quality. That
the active is the reason which exists in the passive, that is to
say, God. For that he, Ijcinj^ eternal, and existing through-
out all matter, makes everything. And Zeno, the Cittiajau,
lays down this doctrine in his treatise on Essence, and so does
Cleanthes in his essay on Atoms, Chiysippus in the first book
of his Investigations in Natural Philosophy, towards the end,
Archedemus in his work on Elements, and Posidonius in the
second book of his treatise on Natural Philosophy. But they
say that principles and elements differ from one another. For
that the one had no generation or beginning, and will have no
end ; but that the elements may be destroyed by the operation
of fire. Also, that the elements are bodies, but prindples
have no bodies and no forms, and elements too have forms.

Now a body, says Apollodorus in his Natural Philosophy, is
extended in a threefold manner; in length, in breadth, in
depth ; and then it is called a solid body ; and the superficies
is the limit of the body having length and breadth alone, but
not depth. But Posidonius, in the third book of his Heavenly
PhflBuomeua, will not allow a superficies either any substantial
reality, or any intelligible existence. A line is the limit of a
superficies, or length without breadth, or something which has
nothing but length. A point is the boundary of a line, and is
the smallest of all symbols.
V They also teach that God is unity, and that he is called
Mind, and Fate, imd Jupiter, and by many other names be-
sides. And that, as he was in the beginning by himself, he
turned into water the whole substance which p^vaded the air ;
and as the seed is contained in the produce, so too, he being
the seminal prindple of the world, remained behind in
moisture, maldng matter fit to be employed by himself in the
production of those things which ^ero to come after; and

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then, first of all, he made the four elements, fire, water, air,
and earth. And Zeno speaks of these in his treatise on tiie
Universe, and so does Chrysippus in the first book of his
Physics, and 80 does Aichedemus in some treatise on the
Elements.

LXIX. Now an element is that out of which at first all
things which are are produced, and into which all things are
resolved at last* Arid the four elements are all equi^ly an
essence without any distinctive quality, namely, matter ; but
fire is the hot, water the moist, air the cold, and earth the dry
—though this last quality is also common to the air. The fire
is the highest^ and that "^ig called aether, in which first of all
the sphere was generated in which the fixed stars are set,
then that in which the planets molve ; after that the air,
then the water ; and the sediment as it were of all is the
earth, which is placed in the centre of the rest.

liXX. They also speak of the world in a threefold sense ;
at one time meaning God himself, whom they call a heing of
a certain qoalily, having for his peculiar manifestation universal
substance, a being imperishable, and who never had any
generation, being the maker of tiie arrangement and order
that we see; and who, aft^ certain periods of time, absorbs
all substance in himself, and then re-produces it fix>m himself.
And this anrangement dt the stars they call the wmrld, and so
the third sense is one composed of both the preceding ones.
And the world is a thing which is peculiarly of such and such
a quality consisting of universal substance, as Poddonius
aifirms in his Meteorological Elements, bel Dg a i^rstem com-
pounded of heaven and earth, and all the creatures which
exist in them ; or it may be called a system compounded of
Gods and men, and of the things created on their account
And the heaven is the most remote drcumference ci the
world, in which all the Divine Nature is situated.

Again, the world is inhabited and regulated according to
intellect and providence, as Chr^^sippus says, in his works on
Providence, and Poeidonius in the thirteenth book of his
treatise on Gods, since mind penetrates into every part of the
world, just as the soul pervades us ; hut it is in a greater
degree in some parts, and in a less degree in others. For
instance, it penetrates as a habit, as, for instance, into the
bones and sinews ; and into some it penetrates as the mind

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does, for instance, into the dominant principle. And thus the
whole world, being a living thing, endowed with a soul and
with reason, lias the aiihcr as its dominant principle, as
Antipater, of Tyre, says in the eighth book of his treati^ie on
the World. But Chrysippus, in the first book of his essay oii
Providence, and Posidonius in his treatise on Gods, say that
the heaven is the dominant principle of the world; and
Cleanthes attributes this to the sun. Chrysippus, however,
on this point contradicts himself ; for he says in another place,
that the most subtle portion of the aether, which is also called
by the Stoics the iirst God, is what is infused in a sensible
manner into all the beings \shich are in the air, and through
every animal and every plant, and through the earth itself
according to a certain habit ; and that it is this wiiich com*
municates to them the faculty of feeling.

They say too, that the world is one and also Unite, having
a spherical form. For that such a shape is the most convenient
for motion, as Posidonius says, in the lifteeuth book of his
Discussions on Natural Philosophy, and so says Antipater also
in his essay on the World. And on the outside there is
diffused around it a boundless vacuum, which is incorporeal.
And it is incorporeal inasmuch, as it is capable of being con-
tained by bodies, but is not so. And that there is no such
thing as a vacuum m the world, but that it is all closely united
and compact ; for that this condition is necessarily brought
about by the concord and harmony which exist between the
heavenly bodies and those of the earth. And Chrysippus
mentions a vacuum in his essay on a Vacuum, and also ui the
first book of his treatise on the Physical Arts, and so does
ApoUophanes in his Natural Philosophy, and so does Apollo-
dorus, and so does IWdonius in the second book of his
discourses on Natural Philoso})liy. And they say that these
things are all incorporeal, and all alike. Moreover, that time
is incorporeal, since it is an interval of the motion of the
world. And that of time, the past and the future are both
illimitable, hut the present is limited. And they assert that
the world is perishable, inasmuch as it was produced by reason,
and is one of the things which are perceptible by the senses ;
and whatever has its parts perishable, must also be ])erishable
in the whole. And the parts of the world are perishable, for
they change into one another. Therefore, the whole world i»

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perishable. And again, if anything admits of a change for the
worse.it is perishable ; therefore, the world is perishable, for it
can be dried up, and it can be covered with water.

Now the world was created when its substance was changed
from fire to moisture, by the action of the air ; and then its
<lenser parts coagulated, and so the earth was made, and the
thinner portions were evaporated and became air ; and this
being rarefied more and more, produced fire. And then, by
the combination of all these elements, were produced plants
and animals, and other kinds of things. Kow Zeno speaks
of the creation, and of the destruction of the world, in his
treatise on the Universe, and so does Cleanthes, and so does
Antipater, in the tenth book of his traatise on the World.
But PansBtius asserts that the world is imperishable.

Agaiiit that the world is an animal, and that it is endued
with reason, and life, and intellect, is affirmed by Chiysippus,
in the first volume of his treatise on ProTidence, and hj
-Apollodorus in his Natiu^l Philosophy, and by Posidonins ;
and that it is an animal in this sense, as being an essence
endued with life, and with sensation. For that which is an
animal, is better than that which is not an animal. But
nothing is better than the world ; therefore the world is an
animal. And it is endued with life, as is plain from the fact
of our own soul being as it were a fragment broken off fxom
it. But Boethus denies that the world is an animal.

Again, that the world is one, is affirmed by Zeno, in his
treatise on the Universe, and by Chrjsippus, and by Apollo*
doros, in his Natuml Philosophy, and by Posidonius, in the
first book of his Discourses on Natural Philosophy. And by
the term, the universe, according to Apollodorus, is understood
both the world itself, and also the whole of the world itself,
and of the exterior vaouum taken ioge^ex. The wodd, then,
is finite, and the Tacuum infinite.

LXXL Of the stars, those which are filed are only moved
in connection with the movements of the entire heaven ; but
the planets move according to their own peculiar and separate
motions. And the sun takes an oblique path through the
drde of the zodiac, and in the same manner also does the
moon, which is of a winding form. And ihe sun is pure fire,
as Posidonius asserts in the seventh book of his treatise on
the Heavenly Bodies, and it is larger than the earth, as the

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same author informs ua, in the sixteenth book of his Dis-
closures on Natural Philosophy. Also it is spherical^ as he
says in another place, being made on the same principle as
the world is. Therefore it is fire, because it perfonns all the
functions of fire. And it is larger than the earth, as is
proved by the fact of tlie whole earth being illuminated by it,
and also the whole heaven. Also the fact of the earth throw-
ing a conical shadow, proves that the sun is greater than it ;
and the sun is seen in every part, because of its magnitude.
But the moon is of a more earthy Datvire than the sun,
inasmuch as it is nearer the earth.

Moreover, they say that all these fiery bodies, and all the
other stars, receive nutriment ; the sun from the vast sea,
being a sort of intellectual appendage ; and the moon from
the fresh waters, being mingled with the air, and also near
the earth, as Posidonius explains it in the sixth book of his
Discourses on Natural Philosophy. And all the other stars
derive their nourishment from the earth. They also consider
that the stars are of a spherical figin-e, and that the earth
is immovable. And that the moon has not a light of her
own, but that she borrows it from the sun. And that the sun
is eclipsed, when the moon runs in front of it on the side
towards us, as Zeno describes in his work on the Universe ;
for when it comes across it in its passage, it conceals it, anrf
again it reveals it ; and this is a phenomenon easily seen in a
basin of water. And the moon is eclipsed when it comes
below the shadow of the earth, on which account this never
happens, except at the time of the full moon ; and although
it is diametrically opposite to the sun every month, still it is
not eclipsed every month, because when its motions are
obliquely towards the sun, it does not find itself in the same
place as the sun, being either a little more to the north, or a
little more to the south. When therefore it is found in the
same place with the sun, and with the other intermediate
objects, then it takes as it were the diameter of the sun, and
is eclipsed. And its place is along the line which runs
between the crab and the scorpion, and the ram and the bull,
as Posidonius tells us.

J. XX II. They also say that God is an animal immortnl,
rational, perfect, and intellectual in his happiness, unsuscept-
ible of aujr kind of evil, having a foreknowledge of the world

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and of all that is in the world ; however, that he has not the . ,
figure of a man ; and that he is the creator of the universe, .
and as it were, the Father of ^11 things in common, and that || J, J
a portion^of _hiin. pervaSes everything, which is called by ^.
dmerent names, according to its powers ; for they call him A/a
as being the peison (d/ civ) everything is, and Z^ya, inasmuch
as he is the cause of life, (rou Zpv), or because he pervades
life. And 'Ah^va, with reference to the extension of his
dominant power over the aether (s/V otlHfa). And "H^, on
account of Hs extension through the air (jU^ as^tt). And
'HipaKTrog, on account of his pervading fire, which is the
chief instrument of art; and llMtidSv, as pervading moisture,
and l^nrn^, as pervading t^e earth {Tnh And in the same
^ngrt regarding some other of his peculiar attributes, thoy
have given him other names.*

The substance of God is asserted by Zeno to be the universal
world, and the heaven; and Chrysippus agrees with this
doctrine, in his eleventh book on the Gods ; and so also does
Posidonius, in the first book of his treatise on the same sub-
ject. Antipater, in the seventh book of his treatise on the
World, says that his sul)-t;ince is aerial. And Boethus, in his
treatise on Nature, calls the substance of God the sphere of
the fixed stars.

LXXIII. And his nature they define to be, Uiat which
keeps the world together, and sometimes that which produces
the things upon the earth. And nature is a habit which
derives its movements from itself, perfecting and holding
together all that arises out of it, according to the principles of
production, in certain definite periods, and doing the same as
the things from which it is separated. And it has for its
olgecty suitableness and pleasure, as is plain firom its having
created man.

LXXIV. But • Chrysippus, in his treatise on Fate, and
Posidonius, in the second book of his work on Fate, and
Zeno, and Boethus, in the eleventh book of his treatise on
Fate, say, that all things are produced by fate. And &te,

* It is hardly necef?Rary to remark that 'AQriva is the name of
Minerva, not of Jupiter; "Hpa, of Juno; 'H^aioroc, of Vulcan;
TlomMUf of Neptune, and Aijfirirripf of Ceres. "H0ai(rro( ia properly
derived from ^aivw, to shine ; Tloffttd&v has some affinity with ir6w, to
drink. ^miiiTUP IB only a dialeotie variation of Ti| /iQr^p .^^

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{iifia^fihri)^ is a connected (upofMsvri) cause of existing things,
or the reason according to which the world is regulated.

LXXV. They also say that divination has a universal
existence, since Providence has ; and they define it as an act
on account of certain results, as Zeno and Chrysippus, in the
second book of his treatise on Divination, and Athenodorus
and Posidonius, in the twelfth book of his discourses on
Natural Philosophy, and in the fifth book of his treatise on
Divination, all agree in saying ; fot PaiMBtiiis denies that it
has any certain foundation.

LXXVL And they say that the substanoe of all existing
things is Primary Matter, as ChiysippiiB asserts in the tot
book of his Physics ; and Zeno says the same. Now matter
is that from which anything whatever is pioduced. And it is
called by a twofold appelladon, essenoe and matter ; the one
as relating to all things taken together, and the other to
things in particular and separate. The one which relates to
all things taken together, never becomes either greater or
less; but the one relating to things in purticular, does become
greater or less, as the case may be.

LXXVII. Body is, according to them, a substance and
finite ; as Antipater says, in the second book of his treatise on
Substance ; and Apollodorus, in his Natural Philosophy, agrees
^fith him. It is also subject to diange, as we learn from the
same author; for if it wers immutable, then the things which
have been produced out of it would not haye been produced ;
on which account he also says that it is infinitely divisible :
but Chrysippus denies that it is infinite ; for that nothing is
infinite, which is divisible at all.

LXXVIIL He admits, however, that it is infinitely
divisible, and that its concretions take place over the whole
of it, as he explains in the third book of lus Physics, and not
according to any circumfiBrence or juxtaposition; for a little
wine when thrown into the sea, will keep its distinctness for a
brief period, but after that, will be lost

L^IX. They also say that thm are some Dsmones,
who have a sympathy wim mankmd, being surveyors of all
human affidrs ; and that there are heroes, which are the souls
of virtuous men, which have left their bodies.

LXXX. Of the things which take place in the air, they
say that winter is the efiect of the air above the earth being

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cooled, on account of the retirement of the sun to a greater
distance tlian before ; that spring is a good temperature of
the air, according to the sun's approach towards us ; that
summer is the effect of the air above the earth being wanned
by the approach of the sun towards the north ; that automn
is caused by the retreat of the sun from m. • • .
to those places from which thej flow.*

XiXXXI. And the cause <^ the production of the wmds is
the aun, which evaporates the clouds. Moreover, the rain-
bow is the reflexion of the sun's rays from the moist clouds,
or, as Posidouius explains it in his Meteorology, a manifestar
tbn of a section of the sun or moon, in a doud suflused with
• ifiw ; being holbw and continuous to the sight; so that it is
reflected as in a mirror, under the appearance of a circle.
And that comets, and bearded stars, and meteors, are fires
which have an existence when the densi^ of the air is borne
upwards to the regions of the aether.

That a ray of light is a kindling of sudden fire, borne
through the air with great rapidity^^and displaying an appear*
anoe of length ; that rain proceeds from the clouds, bemg a
transformation of them into water, whencTer the moisture
which is caught up from the earth or from the sea, by the son,
is not able to be otherwise disposed of; iar when it is soli*
dified, it is then called hoarfrost. And hail is a doud con-
gealed, and subsequently dispersed by the wind. Snow is
moisture from a congealed doud, as Posidonius tells us in
the eighth book of his discourse on Natural Philosophy.
Lightning is a kindling of the douds from their being rubbed
together, or else broken asunder by the wind, as Zeno tells
us in his treatise on the UniTerse ; and thunder is the noise
made by them on the occasion of ihmr being rubbed together
or broken asunder ; and the thundei^lt is a sudden Idndling
which £all8 with great violence on the earth, from the cloudts
being rubbed together or broken asunder, or, as others say, it is
a conTcrsion of fieiy air violently brought down to the earth.
A typhon is a vast thunderbolt, violent and full of wind, or a
Bmoij breath of a cloud broken asunder. A ^^ijtfriii is a cloud

* There is a^hiatoB hi the text here. CaBaubon Buppliee the meexiiiig

by a reference to Plutarch'^ Treatise on the opinions of the Philo8<^
pners, iii. 7. " that the winds are a flowing of the air, and that they
have Tarious samee with reference to the oountriee from vhich they
flow."

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rent by fire, with wind,*

into the hollows of the earth, or when the wind is pent up in
the earth, as Posidoniiis says in liis eighth book ; and that
sone of them are shakings, others rendings, others emissions
of fire, and others, instances of violent fermentation.

LXXXII. They also think that the general arrangement
of the world is in this fashion ; that the earth is in the mid-
dle, occupying the place of the centre ; next to which comes
the water, of a spherical form; andliaving the same centre as
the earth ; so that the earth is in the water ; and next to the
water comes the air, which has also a apheriod form.

LXXXII I. And that there are five circles in llie heaven ;
of which the first is the arctic circle, which is always visible ;
the second is the tropical summer circle ; the third is the
equinoctial circle ; the fourth, the winter tropical circle ; and
tlie fifth the antarctic, which is not visible. And they are
called parallel, because they do not incline to cme ahother ;
they are drawn however aroimd the same centre. But the
zodiac is oblique, eutting the parallel circles. There are also
five zones on the earth ; the first is the northern one, placed
under the arctic circle, uninhabitable by reason of the cold ;
The second is temperate ; the third is uninhabitable because
of the heat, and is called the torrid zone; the fourth is a
temperate zone, on the other side of the torrid zone ; the fifth
is the southern zone, being also uninhabitable hj reason of the
cold, t

LXXXIV. Another of their doctrines is that nature is an
artificial fire tending by a regular road to production, which is
a fiery kmd of hree& proceeding according to art Also, that
the soul ia sensible, and that it is a spirit which is bom with
lis; consequently it is a body and continues to exist after
death ; that nevertheless it is perishable. But that the soul
of the universe is imperishable, and that the souls which exist
in animals are only parts of that of the universe. But Zeno,
the Cittiiean, and ^tipater, in their treatise concerning the

'* SonMlhlng is evidently wanting hm; probably some mention of

•n earthquake.

f This LB siiuilar to Virgil's description*

QuirKjne tenent coelum zona?, quanim una coruaoo

Semper tSoie rubens, et torrida semper ab iirui :
Quam circum extrumu) dextrd kuvaque trahuutur,

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Soul, and Posidonius also, all say that the soul is a warm
spirit ; for that by it we have our breath, and by it we arc
moved. Cleanthes, accordingly, asserts that all souls continue
to exist till they aie burnt up ; but Chrysippus says that it is
only the souls of the wise that endure. And they further
. teach that there are eight parts of the soul ; the hve scnyes,
and the generative faculties, and voire, and reason. And we
see because of a body of luminous air which extends from the
organ of sight to the object in a conical form, as it is asserted
by Chrysi|)pus, in the second book of his Natural Philosophy,
and also by A|X)llodorus. And the apex of this cone is close
to the eye, and its base is formed by the object which is seen ;
so that that which is seen is as it were reported to the eye by
this continuous cone of air extended towards it like a staff. In
the same way, we hear because the air between the speaker and
the hearer is struck in a spherical manner ; and is then
agitated in waves, resembling the circular eddies which one
sees in a cistern when a stone is dropped into it.

Sleep, they say, is produced by a relaxation of the aesthetic
energies with reference to the dominant part of the soul. And
the causes of the passions they explain to be the motknis and
oonyecsions which take place in connection with this spirit or
soul.

LXXXV. Seed, they define as a thing of a nature capable
of producing other thuigs of the same nature as the thing
from which it has been separated. And the seed of man,
which man emits, is, together with molstore, mixed up with
the parts of the soid by that kind of mizture which corre-

Cceruldl glacie conoretao atque imbribuB afana

Has inter luediamque dux mortiilibus SBgriB
Munere coiiceasjB Diviim, et via scetu per ambas,
Obliqims qua se signorum verteret ordo. — Geobq. I. 233.

There ia uq part of Diydeii's translation superior to that of this

pflllflBgfti

¥iY9 girdles bfaid the skies ; the torrid sone
Glows with the passing and repaashig sun ;

Far on the right and left, th' extremes of heaven,

To frosts, and snows, and bitter blasts are given ;

Betwixt the midst. And there the Gods assigned

Four habitable seats for human kind.

And cross their limits ont a sloping way»

Which the twelve signs in beauteous oider swaj. 1. 828.

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did LIVES OF EMINENT PHILOSOPHEBS.

sponds to the capacity of the parents. And Chrysippus says,
in the second book of his Natural Philosophy, that it is a
spirit according to substance ; as is manifest from the seeds
which are plant^^d in the earth : and which, if they are old,
do not germinate, because all their virtue has evaporated.
And SphsBrus says, that seed proceeds from the entire body,
and that that is how it is that it produces all the parts of
the body.

They also say that the seed of the female is unproductive ;
for, as Sphserus says, it is devoid oi tone, ^and small in
quantity, and watery.

LXXXVI. They also say that that is the dominant part
of the soul which is its most excellent part ; in which the
imaginations and the desires are formed, and whence reason
proceeds. And this place is in the heart.

These then are the doctrines on the subject of natural
philosophy entertained by them, which it seems sufficient for
us to detail, having regard to the due proportions of this
book. And the following are the points in which some of
them disagreed with the rest

LIFE OF AHISTON.

I. Ariston the Bald, a native of Chios, sumamed the
Scion, said, that the chief good was to live in perfect indiffer-
ence to all those things which are of an intermediate character
between virtue and nee ; making not the slightest difference
between them, but regarding them all on a footing of equality.
For that the wise man resembles a good actor ; who, whether
he is filHng the part of Agamemnon or Thersites, will perform
them both equally well.

II. And he discarded altogether the topic of physics, and
of logic, saying that the one was above us, and that the other
had nothing to do with us ; and that the only branch of
philosophy with which we had any real concern was ethics.

IIL He also said that dialectic reasonings were like

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ABISTON.

319

cobwebs ; which,' although they seem to be put together on
principles of art, are utterly useless.

lY. And be did not introduce mai^ virtues into bis scheme,
as Zeno did; nor one virtue under a great many names, as
the ]Vi egaric philosophers did ; but defined virtue as consisting
in behaving in a certain manner with reference to a certain
thing.

Y. And as he philosophized in this manner, and carried on
his discussions in the Cynosaxges, he got so much influence
as to be called a founder of a sect. Accordingly^ Miltiades,
and Diphilus wm called Aristoneans.

VI. He was a man of very persuasive eloquence, and one
who could adapt himself well to the humours of a multitude.
On which account Timon says of him : —

And one who, from Ariaton'a wily race^ ;
Traced his descent.

Diodes, the Magnesian, tells us th^t Ariston having fallen
in with Polemo, passed over to his school, at a time when
Zeno was lying ill with a long sickness. The SUuc doctrine to
which he was most attached, was the one that the wise man
is never guided by opinions. But Pdrsffius argued against
tins, and caused one of two twin brothers to place a deposit in
his hands, and then caused the other to reclaim it; and thus
he convicted him, as he was in doubt on this point, and there
fore forced to act on opinion. He was a great enemy of
Arcesilaus. And once, seeing a bull of a monstrous confor-
mation, having a womb, he said, Alas I here is an argument
for Arcesilaus against the evidence of Ms senses'.** On another
, occasion, when a philosopher of the Academy said that he did
not comprehend anything, he said to him, ** Do not you even
see the man who is sitting next to you?" And as he baid
that he did not, he said :—

Who then has blinded you, who's been so barah,
Am thus to rob you of your beaming eyes?

VII. The following works are attributed to him. Two books
of Exhortatory Discourses; Dialogues on the Doctrines of
Zeno ; sLx books of Conversations ; seven books of Discussions
on Wisdom ; Conversations on Love ; Commentaries on Vain
Glory; twenty-live books of Reminiscences; tlnee books of

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990 LIVES OF EMINENT PHILOSOPUEBS.

Memorabilia; eleven books of Apophthegms; a volume against
the Orators ; a volume against the Rescripts of Alexiiius ;
three trtjatibcs against the Dialecticians ; four books of Letters
to Cleaiithes. But Pansetius and Sosicrates say, that his only
genuine writings are his letters ; aiui that all the rest are the
works of Ariston the Peripatetic.

VII I. It is said that he, being bald, got a stroke of the
sun, and so died. And we have written a jesting epigram on
him in Scajou iambics, in the following terms: — •

Why, 0 Arifiton, being old sod bddy

Did you allow the sun to roaat your crown ?

Thus, in an unbecoming search for warmth, ' ;

Against your will, you've found out chilly Hell.

IX. There was also another man of the name of Ariston ;
a native of Julii, one of the Peripatetic school. And another
who was an Athenian musician. A fourth who was a tragic
poet. A fifth, a native of Aloea, who wrote a treatise on the
Oratorical Art. A sixth was a peripatetic Philosopher of
Alexandria.

LIFE OF HEBILLUS.

I. HigiiLLUs, a native of Carthage, said that the chief good
was knowledge ; that is to say, the always conducting one's
self in such a way as to refer everything to the principle of
living according to knowledge, and not been misled by igno-
rance. He also said that knowledge was a hal^t not departing
from reason in the reception of perceptions.

On one occasion, he said that there was no such thing as a
chief good, but that circumstances and events changed it, just
as the same piece of brass might become a statue either of
Alexander or of Socrates. And that besides the chief good or
end (riXof*), there was a subordinate end (iMwrsX/c) different
ttom it And that those who were not wise aimed at the

• "TTrorfXic, a name given by Herillus in Diogenes LaertiuB to a
man's natural talents^ Ae.» which ought all to be suboidmate to the
attaiDmeiit of tlie ohief good*--L. R S. Ml <^

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DIONYSICS.

821

latter ; but that only the wise man directed his views to the
former. And all the things between virtue and vice he
pronounced indifferent.

II. His books contain but few lines, but they are full of
power, and contain arguments in opposition to Zeno.

III. It is said, that when he was a boy, many people were
attached to him ; and as Zeno wished to drive them away, he
persuaded him to have his head shaved, which disgusted them.
aU.

IV. His books are these. One on Exercise; one on the
Passions ; one on ()|)iiiion ; the Lawgiver ; the Skilful
Midwife ; the Contradictory Teacher ; the Pre^iarer ; the
Director ; the Mercury ; the Medea ; a book of Dialogues ; a
book of Ethical Propositions.

LIFE OF DIONYSIUS.

I. DiONYSius, the Deserter, as he was called, asserted that
pleasure was the chief good, from the circumstance of his
being afflicted with a complaint in his eyes. For, as he
suffered severely, he could not pronounce pain a thing in-
different.

II. He was the son of Theophantus, and a native of

Heraclea.

III. He was a pupil, as we are told by Diocles, first of all
of Heraclides, his fellow citizen ; after that of Alexinus, and
Menedemus ; and last of all of Zeno. And at first, as he was
very devoted to learning, he tried his hand at all kinds of
poetry. Afterwards, he attached himself to Aratus, whom he
took for his model. Having left Zeno, he turned to the
Cyrenaics, and became a frequenter of brothels, and in other
respects indulged in luxury without disguise.

IV. When he had lived near eighty yeansy he died of
starvation.

V. The following books are attributed to him. Two books
on Apathy ; two on Exercise ; four on Pleasure ; one on

L-iyiii^LKj by Google

LIVES OF EUNBIIT FHIL080PHEB8.

Bidies, and FaToin% and Bevonge; one on the Use of Men ;
one on Good Fortune ; one on Ancient Kings ; one on Things
which are Praised ; one on Barbarian Customs.

These now are tibe chief men who differed from the Stoics.
But the man who succeeded Zeno in his school was Oleairthes,
whom we must now speak of.

LIFE OF CLEANTHES.

I. Cleanthes was a native of Assos, and tlie son of
Phanias. He was originally a boxer, as we learn from iVntis-
thenes, in his Successions. And he came to Athens, having
but four drachmas, as some people say, and attaching himself
to Zeno, he devoted himself to Philosophy in a most noble
manner ; and he adhered to the same doctrines as his master.

II. He was especially eminent for his industry, so that as
lie was a very poor man, he was forced to undertake mercenary
employments, and lie used to draw water in the gardens by
night, and by day he used to exercise himself in philosophical
discussions; on which account he was called Phreantles.*
They also say that he was on one occasion brought before a
court of justice, to be compelled to give an account what his
sourees of income were from which he maintained himself in
such good condition : and that then he was acquitted, liaving
produced as his witness the gardener in whose ^urdeu he drew
the water ; and a woman who was a mealseller, in whose
establishment he used to prepare the meal. And the judges
of the Areopagus admired him, and voted that ten mime should
be given to hun ; but Zeno forbade him to accept them.

They also say that Antigonus presented him three thousand
drachmas. And <mce, when he was conducting some joung
men to some spectacle, it happened that the wind blew away
his doak, and it was then seen that he had nothing on under
it; on which he was greatly applauded by the Athenians,

* From ^iap, a wtXt, aad dprXim, to draw watw.

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CLEANTHES. . 323

accordiiif^ to the account given bj Demetrius, the Magnesian,
iu bis essay on People of the same Name. Aud he was greatly
admired ])y them on account of this circumstance.

They also say that Antigonus, who was a pupil of his, once
asked him why he drew water ; and that he made answer,
•* Do I do nothing beyond drawing water ? Do I not also dig,
and do I not water the land, and do all sorts of things for the
sake of philosophy?" For Zeno used to accustom him to this,
and used to require him to bring him an obol by way of
tribute.* And once he brought one of the pieces of money
which he had collected in this way, into the middle of a
company of his acquaintances, and said, *' Cleantbes could
maintain even another Cleanthes if lie were to choose ; but
others who have plenty of means to support themselves, seek
for necessaries from others ; although they only study philo-
sophy in a very lazy manner.*' Aud, in reference to these
habits of his, Cleanthes was called a second Heracles.

III. He was then very industrious ; but he was not well
endowed bv nature, and was very slow in his intellect. On
which account Timon says of him

What stately ram thus measures o'er the ground.
And master of the Hock surveys them round ?
What dtisen of Auob^ didl anid cold,
Fond of long wovda, a mouth-pieoe^ but not bold.f

And wlien he was ridiculed by his fellow pupils, he used to
bear it patiently.

IV. He did not even object to the name when he was
called an ass ; but only said that he was the only animal able
to bear the burdens which Zeno put upon him." And once,
when he was reproached as a coward, he said, That is the
reason why I make but few mistakes." He used to say; in
justification of his preference of his own way of life to that 'of
the rich, " That while they were playing at ball, he was earning
money by digging hard and barren ground." And be very
often used to blame himself. And once, Ariston beard him
doing 60, and said, *' Wlio is it that you are reproaching ?"

• The Greek used is a7ro0opd ; which "was a term especially applied
to the money which slaves let out to hire paid to their master.

t This is a parody on Horn. IL iiL 196. Pope's verraon, L 260. The
word SXttoc meanB tibe monfh-pieoe of a flute.

T S

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3^4

LIVES OF £;M1N£NT philosophebs.

and he replied, ''An old man who has grej hair, but no
brains.*'

When some one once said to him, that Arcesilaus did not
do what he ought, " Desist," he repHed, ** and do not blame
him ; for if he destroys duty as far as his words go, at all
events he estabUshes it hy his actions." Arcesilaus once said
to lum, *' I never listen to flatterers." *' Yes," rejoined Clean-
thes, " 1 flatter you, when I say that though you say one
thing, you do another.'* ^\Tien some one once asked him what
lesson he ought to inculcate on his son, he replied, The
warning of Electra —

Silence, silence, gently step.*

WhenaLacedaemoniaD once said in his hearing, that labour
ym a good thing, he was delighted, and addressed him :—

Oh, early worth, a soul so wise and young
Plrodalnui you from the sa^ Lycurgus sprung.

Hecaton tells us in his Apophthegms, that once when a
young man said, *' If a man wlio beats his stomach yaffr^/^s/,
then a man who slaps his thigh ' he replied, " Do you

stick to your ^/a^-tiTj^/^g/."* But anahjgous words do not always
indicate analogous facts. Once when lie was conversing with
a youth, he asked him if he felt ; and as he said that he did,
" Why is it then," said Gleanthes» that I do not feel that
you feel ?"

When Sositheus, the poet, said in the theatre where he was
present : —

Ken whom the foUy of Clean&w uiges ;

He continued in the same attitude ; at which the hearers were
surprised, and applauded him, but drove Sositheus away. And
when lie expressed liis sorrow for having abused him in tliis
manner, he answered him gently, saying, " That it would be
a preposterous tiling for Bacchus and Hercules to bear being
ridiculed by the poets without any expression of anger, and
for him to be indignant at any chance attack." He used
also to say, '* That the Peripatetics were in the same condi-
gn as lyres, which though they utter sweet notes, do not

♦ Taken from the Orestes of Euripides, i. 140.

t This is pavodiod^m Horn. OflLiv. 611. Popo's ranon, 1. 881.

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CLEA2CTBDBS.

325

Ijear themselves." And it is said, that when he asserted
that, on the principles of Zeno, one could judge of a man's
character hy his looks, some witty young men brought him
A profligate fellow, having a hardy look from continual
exercise in the flelds, and requested him to tell them his
moral character ; and he, having hesitated a little, bade the
man depart; and, as he departed, he sneezed, "I have the
fellow now,** said Oleanthes, he is a debauchee."
. He said once to a man who was conTeredng with him hj
hinl^lf, " You are not talking to a had man.** And when
some one reproached him with his old age, he rejoined, " I
too wish to depart, but when I perceive myself to be in
good health in every respect, and to be able to recite and
read, I am content to remain.*' They say too, that he used
to write down all that he heard from Zeno on oyster shells,
and on the shoulder-blades of oxen, from want of money to
buy paper with.

y. And though he was of this character, and in such
circumstances, he became so eminent, that, though Zeno
had many other disciples of high reputation, he succeeded
him as the president of his School.

VI* And he left behind him some excellent bookSj which
are these* One on Time ; two on Zeno*s System of Natural
Fbilosopby; four books <^ the Explanations of Heraclitus:
one on Sensation ; one on Art; one addressed to Democritus ;
(me to Aristaxchus ; one to Herillus ; two on Desire ; one
entitled Archseology ; one on the Gods ; one on the Giants ;
one on Marriage ; one on Poets ; three on Duty ; one on
Good Counsel ; one on Favour ; one called Exhortator}- ;
one on Virtues; one on Natural Ability; one on Gorgippus ;
one ! on Enviousness ; one on Love ; one on Freedom ;
one called the Art of Love; one on Honour; one on
Glory; The Statesman; oue on Counsel; one on Laws ;
one on Deciding as a Judge ; one on the Way of Life ;
three on Reason ; one on the Chief Good ; one on the
Beautiful ; one on Actions ; one on Knowledge ; one on
Kingly Power ; one on Friendship ; one on Banquets ; one
on the Principle that Virtue is the same in Man and Woman ;
one on the Wise Man Employing Sophisms ; one on Apoph-
thegms ; two books of Conversations ; one on Pleasure ; one

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326 . LIY£S 0¥ EMINENT PHlIX)SOFUj£B&

on Properties ; one on Doubtful Things ; one on Dialectics ;
one on Modes ; one on Categorems.
VII. These are his writings.

And he died in the following manner. His gums swelled
very much ; and, at the command of his physicians, he abstained
from food for two days. And he got so well tliat his physicians
allowed him to return to all his former habits ; but he refused,
and saying that he had now already gone part of the way, he
abstained from food for the future, and so died ; being, as
some report, eighty years old, and having been a pupil of Zeno
nineteen years. And we have written a jtlayfui epigram on
him also, which runs thus

Ipraise Cleanthea, but prake Pluto more ;
Who oould not bw to see him grown so old.
So gaye him rest ftt last among tlw dead,
Who'd drawn aocb loada of wsker whfle alivtt.

LIFE OF SPHiERUS.

I. Spit.kp.t s, a native of the Bosphoms, was, as we have
said before, a pupil of Cleanthes after the death of Zeno.

II. And when he made a considerable advance in philosophy
he went to Alexandria, to the court of Ptolemy Philopater.
And once, when there was a discussion concerning the ques-
tion .whether a wise man would allow himself to be guided by
opinion, and when SphaBrus affirmed that he would not, the
king, wishing to refute him, ordered some pomegranates of
wax to be set before him ; and when Sphaerus was deceived by
them, the king shouted that hie had given his assent to a false
perception. But Sphserus answered very neatly, that he had
not given his assent to the fact that they were pomegnmates,
but to the fact that it was probable that they ought he pome-
granates. And that a perception which could be comprehended
differed from one that was only probable.

Once, when Innesistratos accused him of denying, that

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CHTBIPPU&

327

Ptolemy was a king, he said to liim, " That Ptolemj was a
man with such and such qualities, and a king."*

III. He wrote the following books. Two on the World ;
one on the Elements of Seed ; one on Fortune ; one on the
Smallest Things; one <m. Atoms and Phantoms; one on the
Senses ; five ConTOZsations about HeiaoUtus ; one on Ethical
Arrangement; one on Duty ; one on Appetite; two on the
Passions ; one on Eiaglj Power ; on the Lacedemonian
Constitution ; three on Lycuzgns and Socrates ; one on Law ;
one on Divination ; one volume of Dialogues on Love ; one
ou the Eretrian Philosophers ; one on Things Similar ; one
on Terms ; one on Habits ; three on Contradictions ; one on
Beason ; one on Riches ; one on Glory ; one on Desih ; two
on the Art of Dialectics ; one on Cat^gorems : one on Ambi-
guity; and a volume of Letters.

LIFE OF CniiYSIPPUS.

I. Chrysippus was the son of Apollonius, and a native of
either Soli or Tarsus, as Alexander tells us in his Successions ;
and he was a pupil of Cleanthes. Previously he used to
practise running as a public runner ; then he became a pupil
of Zeno or of Cleanthes, as Diodes and the generality of
authors say, and while he was still living he abandoned him,
and became a veij eminent philosopher.

II. He was a man of great natural ability, and of great
acuteuess in every way, so that in . many points he dissented

* This is referring to the Stoic doctrine ridiculed by Horace :

Si dives qui sapiens est,
Et sutor bonus, ct solus formosus, et est Hex
Cur optius quod iiabes ? — Hor, Sat. i 130.

Wbidi may be translated : —

If every man is rich who's wise,
A col)"bler too beyond all price ;
A handsome man, and eke a king ;
Wliy thus your vows at randdm fling "i

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9^8 UYEB OF mpilBHT PHIL060PHEB8.

horn Zeno, and also from Cleanthes, to whom he often used
to say that he only wanted to be instructed in the dogmas of
the school, and that he would discover the demonstmtionB for
Mmselt But whenever he opposed him with any yehemence,
he always repented, so that he used frequently to say : —

la. most respectB I am a happy man,

Bioepting wime detnthM » ooooeriied;

For in tbat matter I am fiur from fortunate. — - ^

And he had such a high reputation as a dialectician, that most
people thought that if there were such a science iis dialectics
among the Gods; it would be in no respect different from that
of Chrysippus. But though he was so eminently able in matter,
he was not perfect in stylo.

III. He was industrious beyond all other men ; as is plain
from his writings ; for he wrote more than seven hundred and
five books. And he often wrote several books on the same
subject, wishing to put down everything that occuiTcd to him ;
and constantly correcting his preWons assertions, and using a
great abundance of testimonies. So that, as in one of his
writings he had quoted very nearly tlie whole of the Medea of
Euripides, and some one had his book in his hands ; this latter,
when he was asked what he had got there, made answer,
"The Medea of Chrysippus." And Apollodorus, the Athenian,
in his Collection of Dogmas, wishing to assert that what
Epicurus had written out of liis ovni head, and without any
quotations to support his arguments, was a great deal more
than all the books of Chr}^sippus, speaks thus (I give his
exact words), " For if any one were to take away from the
books of Chrysippus all the passages which he quotes from
other authors, his paper would be left empty."

These are the words of Apollodorus ; but the old woman
who lived with him, as Dioles reports, used to say that he
wrote five hundred lines every day. And Hecaton says, that
he first applied himself to philosophy, when his patrimony had
been confiscated, and seized for the royal treasury.

IV. He was slight in person, as is plain from his statue
which is in the Ceramicus, wldch is nearly hidden by the
equestrian statue near it ; in reference to which circumstance,
Cameades caUed him Ciyxippus.^ He was once reproached

* EVom KpOitTm, to liide, and ti^woCf a hone.

GHBT8IFFUS. 829

by some one for not -attending the lectures of Ariston, who
was dxawing a great crowd t^bst him at the time; and he
replied, '* If I had attended to the multitude I should not have
heen a philoeopher." And once, when he saw a dialectician
pressing hard on Gleanthes, and proposing sophistical fsJlacies
to him, he said, " Cease to dr^ that old man from more
important business, and propose these questions to us who are
young." At another time, when some one wishing to ask him
something privately, was addressing him quietly, but when he
saw a multitude approaching began to speak more energetically
he said to him : —

Alas, my brother ! now your vjg is troii))led ;

You were quite Bane just now; and yet how quickly

Have you iuoeumbed to frenzy.*

And at drinking parties he used to behave quietly, moving his
legs about however, so that a female slave once said, " It is
only the legs of Chrj^sippus that are drunk." And he had so
high an opinion of lumself, that once, when a man asked him,
•* To whom shall I entrust my son ?*' he said " To me, for if
I thought that there was any one better than myself, I would
have gone to him to teach me philosophy." In reference to
which anecdote they report that people used to say of him

He has indeed a clear and subtle head,
The test are foims of empty aether xnadeLf

And also

Fop if Chryaippni had not lived and taught,
The Stoio school would sorely hsTe been noog^

VI. But at last, when Arcesilaus and Lacydes, as Sotiou
records in his eighth book, came to the Academy, he joined
them in the study of philosophy ; from which circumstance
he got the habit of arguing for and against a custom, and dis-
cussed magnitudes and quantities, following the system of the
Academics.

VII. IIermip])us relates, that one day, when he was teaching
in the Odeum, he was invited to a sacriiice by his pupils ;

* The fie Imee axe from {he Erestos of Enriiddes, t. 247.
+ This is a quotation from Efimw, Od. x. 495. Pope's Version,
^Q, The Qxeek here ia, olog wkwwrai. The line in Homer stands :

oc^ f liryveOat,— so : w6pt m^nfivtut,

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330

LIVES OF EMINENT PHILOSOPHEB&

and, that drinking some sweet unmixed wine, he was seized
with giddiness, and departed tliis life five days afterwards,
when he had lived seventy-three years ; dying in the hundred
and forty- third olympiad, as Apollodorus says in his Chronicles.
And we have written an epigram on him *

Chiysippiu drank with open mouth some wine;

Then became giddy, and so quickly died.

Too little reck'd he of the Porch's weal,

Or of his country's, or of his own dear life j
And 60 descended to the realuiB of Hell.

But some people say that lie died of a fit of immoderate
laughter. For tliat seeing his ass eating ligs, he told his old
woman to give the ass some unmixed wine to dlink afterwards,
and then laughed so violently that lie died.

VIII. He appears to have been a man of .exceeding arro-
gance. Accordingly, though he wrote such numbers of books,
he never dedicated one of them to any sovereign. And he
was contented with one single old woman, as Demetrius tells
us, in his People of the same Name. And when Ptolemy wrote
to Cleanthes, begging him either to come to liim himself or to
send him some one, Sphffirus went to him, but Chxysippus
slighted the invitation.

IX. However, he sent for the sous of his sister, Aristocrea
and Philocrates, and educated them ; and he was the first
person who ventured to hold a school in the open air in the
Lvceum, as the before mentioned Demetrius relates.

X. There was also another Ohrysippus, a native of Cnidos,
a physician, from whom Erasistratus testifies that he received
great benefit. And another also who was a son of his, and the
physician of Ptolemy ; who, having had a false accusation
brought against bim, was apprehended and punished by being
scourged. There was also a fourth who was a pupil of Era-
sistratus ; and a fifth was an author of a work called Georgics.

XI. Now this philosopher used to delight in proposing
questions of this sort. The person who reveals the myste-
ries to the uninitiated commits a sin ; the heirophant
reveals them to the unimtiated ; therefore the hierophant
commits sin ? Another was, that which is not in the city, is
also not in the house ; but a well is not in the city, therefore,
there is not a well in the bouse. Another was, there is a
certain head ; that head you have not got; there is then a

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a head that you have not got ; therefore, you have not got a
head. Again, if a man is in Megara, he is not in Athens ;
but there is a man in Megaru, therefore, there is not a man in
Athens. Again, if you say anything, what you say comes out
of your mouth ; but you say *' a waggon," therefore a waggon
comes out of your mouth. Another was, if you have not lost
a thing, you have it ; but you have not lost horns ; therefore,
you have horns. Though some attribute this sophism to
Eubulides.

XII. There are people who run Chrysippus down as having
written a great deal that is very shameful and indecent. For
in his treatise on the Ancient Natural Historians, he relates
the story of Jupiter and Juno very indecently, devoting six
hundred lines to what no one could repeat without polluting
his mouth. For, as it is said, he composes this story, though
he praises it as consisting of natural details, in a way more
suitable to street walkers than to Goddesses ; and not at all
resembling the ideas which have been adopted or cited by
writers in paintings. For they were found neither in Polemo,
nor in Hypsicrates, uor in Antigonus, but were inserted by
himself. And in his treatise on Polity, he allows people to
marry their mothers, or their daughters, or their sons. And
he repeats this doctrine in his treatise on those things which
are not desirable for their own sake, in the very opening of it.
And in the third book of his treatise on Justice, he devotes a
thousand lines to bidding people devour even the dead.

In the second book of his treatise on Life and Means of
Support, where he is warning us to consider beforehand, how
the wise man ought to provide himself with means, he says,
" And yet why need he provide himself with means? for if it
is for the sake of living, living at all is a matter of indiffer-
ence ; if it is for the sake of pleasure, that is a matter of in-
difference too ; if it is for tlie sake of virtue, that is of itself
sufficient for happiness. But the methods of providing one s
self ^vith means are ridiculous ; for instance, some derive
them from a king ; and tlien it will be necessary to humour
him. Some from friendshij) ; and then friendship will become
a thing to be bought with a price. Some from wisdom ; and
clieu wisdom will become merceuaiy ; and these are the
accusations which he brings."

But since he has written many books of high reputaUou, it

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LIVES OF IIMINENT PHILOSOPHBRS.

has seemed good to me to give a catalogue of them, classify-
ing them according to their subjects. They are the ibUow-
ing:—

Books on Logic ; Propositions ; Logical Questions ; a book
of the Contemplations of the Philosopher; six books of
Dialectic Tenns addressed to Metrodorus ; one on the Technic
cal Terms used in Dialectics, addressed to Zeno ; one called
the Art of Dialectics, addressed to Aristagoras ; four books of
Probable Conjunctive Beasons, addressed to Dioscorides.

The first set of treatises on the Logical Topics, which con-
cern things, contains : one essay on Propositions ; one on
those Propositions which are not simple ; two on the Copula-
tive Propositions, addressed to Athenades ; three on Podtiye
Propositions, addressed to Aristagoras; one on Definite Pro-
positions, addressed to Athenodorus ; one on Privative Pro-
positions, addressed to Thearus; three on the Best Propositions,
addressed to Dion ; four on the Differences between Lidefinite
Propositbns ; two on those Propositions whidi are enunciated
with a reference to time ; two on Perfect Propositions.

The second set contains, one essay on a Dii^onctive Tnie
Propositions, addressed to Gorgippides ; four on a Conjunc-
tive True Proposition, also addressed to Gorgippides ; one
called, the Sect, addressed to Gorgippides ; one on the argu-
ment of Consequents ; one on questions touched upon in the
three preceding treatises, and now re-examined, tliis also is
addressed to Gorgippides ; one on what is Possible, addressed
to Clitus ; one on the treatise of Philo, on Signification ; one
on what it is that Falsehood consists in.

The third set contains, two treatises on Imperative Propo-
sitions ; two on Interrogation ; four on Examination ; an
epitome of the subject of Interrogation and Examination ;
four treatises on Answer; an abridgment on Answer; two
essays on Investigation.

The fourth set contains ten l)ooks on Categorems, addressed
to Metrodorus ; one treatise on what is Direct and Indirect,
addressed to Philarchus ; one on Conjunctions, addressed to
Apollonides ; four on Categorems, addressed to Pasylus.

The fifth set contains, one treatise on the Five Cases ; one
on Things defined according to the Sul^ect ; two on Enun*
ciatiou, addressed to Stesagoras; two on Appellative Nouns.

The next class of his writings refers to rules of Logic,

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wifli reference to wor4s, and speech Tvhich consists of
words.

The first set of these contains, six treatises on Singular and
Plural Enunciations ; hve on Words, addressed to Sosigines
and Alexander ; four on the Inequality of Words, addressed
to Dion ; three on the Sorites which refer to Words ; one on
Solecisms in the Use of Words, addressed to Dionjsius ; one
entitled Discourses, contrary to Customs ; one entitled Diction,
and addressed to Dionysius.

The second set contains, five treatises on the Elements of
Speech and of Phrases ; four on the Arrangement of Phrases ;
three on the Arrangement, and on the Elements of Phrases,
addressed to Philip ; one on the Elements of Discourse,
addressed to Nicias ; one on Correlatives.

The third set contains, two treatises against those who do
not admit Division; four on Ambiguous Expressions, ad-
dressed to Apollos ; one, Ambiguity in Modes ; two on the
Ambiguous Use of Figures, in Conjunctive Propositions ; two
on the essay on Ambiguous Expressions, by Pantborides ; ' five
on the Introduction to the Ambiguous Expressions; one,
being an abridgment of the Ambiguous Expressions,
addressed to Epicrates ; and a collection of instances to serve
as an Introductiou to the Ambiguous Expressions, in two
books.

The next class' is on the subject of that part of logic
which is conversant about reasonings and modes.

The first set of works in this class, contains, the Art of
lieasoning and of Modes, in five books, addressed to Dios-
corides ; a treatise on Heasomng, in three books ; one on the
Structure of Modes, addressed to Stesagoras, in five books ;
a comparison of the Elements of Modes ; a treatise on Reci-
procal and Coiganctive Reasonings ; an essay to Agatha,
called also an essay on Problems, which follow one another ;
a treatise, proving that Syllogistic Propositions suppose one or
more other terms; one on Conclusions, addressed to Aris-
tagoras; one essay, proving that the same reasoning can
affect several figures ; one against those who deny that the
same reasoning can be expressed by syllogism, and without
syllogism, in two books; three treatises against those who
attack the resolution of Syllogisms ; one on the treatise on
Modes, by Phib, addressed to Timostratus; two treatises on

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Logic, in one Tolume, addressed to Timocrates and PMlo-
mathes ; one voliune of questions on Beasonings and Modes.

The seoond set contains^ one book of Conclusive Reason-
ingSy addressed to Zeno ; one on Primaij Syllogisms, which
are not demonstratiTe ; one on the resolatkm of Syllo*
gisms ; one, in two books, on Captious Reasonings, addieiased
to Pasjlus ; one book of Considerations on Syllogisms ; one
book of Introdoctory Syllogisms, addressed to Zeno ; three
of Introductory Modes, addressed also to Zena; fire of False
Figures of Syllogism ; one of a Syllogistic Method, in the
resolution of arguments, which are not demonBtraliTe ; one of
Researches into the Modes, addressed to Zeno and Philo-
mathes (but this appears to be an erroneous title).

Tlic third set contains, one essay on JncideDtal Keasonings,
addressed to Atheiiades (this af^aiii is an incorrect title) ;
three books of lucideutal Discourses on tlie Medium (another
incorrect title); one essay on the Disjunctive Reasons of
Aminias.

The fourth set contains, a treatise on Hypothesis, in three
books, addressed to Meliager ; a book of hypothetical rea-
sonings on the Laws, addressed also to Meliager ; two books
of hypothethical reasoning to serve as an Introduction ; two
books of hypothetical reasonings on Theorems ; a treatise in
tw^o books, being a resolution of tlie Hypothetical Reason-
ings of Hedylus ; an essay, in three books, being a resolution
of the Hypothetical Keasonings of Alexander (this is an
incorrect title); two books of Expositions, addressed to
Leodamas.

The fifth set contains^ an introduction to Fallacy, ad-
dressed Anstocreon ; an introduction to False Reasonings;
a treatise in six books, on Fallacy, addressed to Aristocreon.

The sixth set contains, a treatise against those who helieve
Truth and Falsehood to be the same thing. One»in two
books, against those who have recourse to diyision to resolve
the Fallacy, addressed to Aristocreon; a demonatiatiTe
essay, to prove that it is not proper to divide indefinite terms ;
an essay, in three books, in answer to the oljections against
ihe non-division of Indefinite Terms, addressed to Pasylus ; a
solution, according to the principles of the ancients, addressed
to Dioscorides ; an essay on vne Resolution of the Fallacy,
addressed to Aristocreon, this is in three books; a resolution

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of the Hypothetical Arguments of Hedjlus, in one hook,
addressed to Aristocreon and ApoUos.

The seventh set contains, a treatise against those who
contend that the prenusses on the Fallacyy are false; a
treatise on Negative Reasoning, addressed to Aristocreon, in
two hooks ; one hook of Negative Reasonings, addressed to
Gynmasias ; two hooks of a treatise on Reasoning by Pro-
gression, addressed to StesagcnrBS ; two hooks of Reasonings by
Interrogation, and on the Anest,* addressed to Onetor;
an essay, in two hooks, on the Corrected Argument, addressed
to Aristohdhis ; another on the Non-apparent- Argument,
addressed to AiheD

The eighth set contains, an essay on the Argument Oretis,
in eight hooks, addressed to Menecrates ; a treatise, in two
books, on Arguments coniposed of a finite term, and an in-
definite term, addressed to Pasylus ; another essay on the
Argument Outis, addressed to Epicrates.

The ninth set contains, two volumes of Sophisms, addressed
to Heraclides, and Pollis; five volumes of Dialectic Argu-
ments, which admit of no solution, addressed to Dioscorides ;
an tssay, in one book, against the JJkielhod of Arcesilaus,
addressed to Sphivrus.

The tenth set contains, a treatise in six books, against
Custom, addressed to Metrodorus ; and another, in seven
books, on Custom, addressed to Gorgippides.
• There are, therefore, works on I.ogic, in the four grand
classes which we have here enumerated, embracing various
questions, without any connection with one another, to the
number of thirty nine sets, amounting in the whole to three
hundred and eleven treatises on Logic.

The next di\ision comprises those works which have for
their object, the explanation of Moral Ideas.

The f'n^t class of this division, contains an essay, giving a
description of Reason, addressed to Theosphorus ; a book of
Ethical questions ; three books of Principles, to serve as the
foimdation of Dogmas, addressed to Philomathes : two books
of definitions of Good-breeding, addressed to Metrodorus ;
two books of definitions of the Jiad, addressed to Metrodorus;

* The argument by progression is the sorites. "The anrert** is the
method of encountering the soritep, Ity taking some pttftionlar point tt
whioh to stop the admieiioiis required by the sorites.

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336 LIVB8 OF EMIMBNT FHIL080PHEB8.

two books of definitions of Neutial Things, addresssi' afto
to Metiodorus; seven books of definitions of Things, aecord-
ing to their genera, addressed to Metrodoras ; and two books
of Definitions, according to other systems, addressed to
Metrodoras.

The second set contains, a treatise on Things Similar, in
three books, addressed to Aristocles ; an essay on Deiiuitions,
in seven hooks, addressed to ryletrodorus.

The third set coiitaius, a treatise, in seven books, on the
Incorrect Oltjections made to Definitions, addressed to Lao-
damas ; two books of Probable Arguments bearing on Defi-
nitions, addressed to Dioscorides ; two books on Species and
Genus, addressed to Gorgippides ; one book on Divisions ;
two books on Contraries, addressed to Dionysius ; a book of
Probable Arguments relating to Divisions, and Genera» and
Species; a book on Contraries.

The fourth set contains, a treatise, in seven books, on
Etymologies, addressed to Diodes ; another, in four boolKS^ on
the same subject, addressed to the same pei'son.

The fifth set contains, a treatise in two books, on Proverbs,
addressed to Zenodotus; an essay on Poems, addressed to
Pliilomathes; an essay, on How one Ought to Listen to
Poems, in two books ; an essay, in reply to Critics, addressed
to Diodorus.

The next division refers to Ethics, looked at in a general
point of view, and to the different systems arising ont of
ihem, and to the Virtues.

The first set contains, an essay against Pictures, addressed
to Timonaz ; an essay on the Manner in which we express
ourselTes about, and form our Conceptions of, each separate
^thing; two books of Thoughts, addressed to Laodanuis; an
essay, in lliree books, on Cmiception, addressed to Pythonax ;
an esday, that the Wise Man is not Guided by Opinion;^
an essay, in five books, on Comprehension, and Knowledge,
and Ignorance ; a treatise on Beaaon, in two books ; a treatise
<m the Employment of Beason, addressed to Leptines*

The second set contains, a treatise, that the Ancient
Philosophers approved of Logic, with Rxwfs to support the
Arguments, in two books, addressed to Zeno ; a treaiibe on
Dialectics, in four books, addressed to Aristocreou ; an an-
swer to the Objections urged against Dialectics, in three

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books ; an essaj on Bbetoric, in four books, addressed to

Dioscorides.

The third set contains, a treatise on Habit, in three books,
addressed to Cleou ; a treatise on Art and Want of Art, in
four books, addressed to Aristocreon ; a treatise, in four books,
on the Difference between the Virtues, addressed to Diodorus ;
a treatise, to show that all the Virtues are Equal; a treatise
on the Virtues, in two books, addressed to Pollis.

The next division refers to Ethics, as relating to Good and
Evil.

The first set contains, a treatise in ten books, on the
Honourable, and on Pleasure, addressed to Aristocreon ; a
demonstration, that Pleasure is not the Chief Good of Man,
in four books ; a demonstration that Pleasure is not a Grood
at all, in four books ; a treatise on what is said by • « .* .

* The remainder of , the lifeiof ChijBqtpus it lort.

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BOOK VIIL

LIFE OF PYTHAGOEAS.

•

I. SiNOB W8 baye nowgone tbiough the Ionian p)iilosop}ij,
wldoh was derived from Tbales, and the lives of the several
iUustrions men who were the chief ornaments of that school ;
me will now proeeed to treat of Ihe Italian School, which was

founded by Pythagoras, the son of Mnesarchus, a seal engi-aver,
as he is recorded to have been by Hermippus ; a native of
Samos, or as Aristoxenus asserts, a Tyrrhenian, and a native
of one of the islands which the Athenians occupied after they
had driven out the Tyrrhenians. But some authors say that
he was the son of Marmacus, the son of Hippasus, the son of
Euthyphron, the son of Cleonymus, wlio was an exile from
Phlias ; and that Marmacus settled in Samos, and that from
this circumstance Pytliagoras was called a Samian. After
that he migrated to Lesbos, having come to Pherecydes with
letters of recommendation from Zoilus, his uncle. And havincr
made three silver goblets, be carried them to Ep^ypt as a
present for each of the three priests. He had brotliers, the
eldest of whom was named Eunomus, the middle one Tvrrhe-
nus, and a slave named Zamolxis, to whom the Getne saoiilice,
believing him to be the same as Saturo, according to the
account of Herodotus.*

II. He was a pupil, as I have already mentioned, of
Pheiecjdes, the Syrian; and after his death he came to
Samos, and became a pupil of Hermodamas, the descendant
of Creophylus, who was by this time.an old man.

III. And as he was a young man, and devoted to learning,
he quitted his country, and got initiated into all the Grecian
and barbarian sacred mysteries. Accordingly, he went to

•

* See Herod, ir, 93.

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PYTHAGORAS. 039

Egypt, on which occasion Polycrates gave him a letter of
introduction to Amasis ; and he learnt the Egyptian language,
as Antipho tells us, in liis treatise on those men who have
been conspicuous for virtue, and he associated with the
Ciialdieans and with the Magi.

Afterwards he went to Crete, and in company with Epi-
menides, he descended into the Ida?an cave, (and in Egypt
too, he entered into the holiest parts of their temples,) and
learned all the most secret mysteries that relate to their
Gods. Then he returned back again to Samos, and finding
bis country reduced under the absolute dominion of Poly-
crates, he set sail, and tied to Crotona in Italy. Aud there,
having given laws to tlie Italians, he gained a very high
reputation^ together with his scholars, who were abo^t thiee
lumdred in nUmber, and governed the republic in a most
excellent manner; so that the oonstitation was veiy nearly
an aristocracy.

IV. HeracTides Ponticus says, that he was accustomed to
speak of himself in this manner ; that he had formerly been
JSthalides, and had been accounted the son of Mercury;
and that Mercniy had desired him to select any gift he
pleased except immortality. And that he accordin^y had
leqiiested that, whether living or dead, he might preserve tibe
memory of what had happened to him. While, ther^re,
he was alive, be recollected everything ; and when he was
dead, be retained tbe same memoiy. And at a subsequent
period be passed into Eupborbus, and was wounded by
Menelans. And while be was Eupborbus, be used to say
that be had formerly been ^tbalides; and that he had
received as a ^fk from Mercury tbe peq)etual transmigra-
tion of his soul, so that it was constantly transmigrating and
passing into whatever plants or animals it pleased ; and he
had also received the gift of knowing and recollecting all
tliiil his soul had suffered in hell, aud what suiieriugs too
are endured l>y the rest of the souls.

But after Eiipliorljus died, he said that liis soul had passed
into Hermotimus ; and when he wished to convince peoplt^
of this, he went into the territory of the Braiicbidae, and
going into tlie temple of Apollo, he showed his shield which
Menekui;} had dedicated there as an oilering. For he said

z a

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LIVES OF EMINENT PHILOSOPHEBS.

tliat he, wheu he sailei from Troy,' had offered up his sliield*
which was already getting woru out, to Apollo, and that nothing
remained but the ivory face which was on it. And when
Ilermotimus died, then he said that he had become Pyrrhus, a
fisherman of Delos ; and that he still recollected everything,
how he had been formerly -^Ethalides, then Euphorbus, then
Ilermotimus, and then Pyrrhus. And when Pyrrhus died,
he became Pythagoras, and still recollected all the circum-
stances that I have been mentioning.

V. Now, some people say that Pythagoras did not leave be-
hind him a single book ; but they talk foolishly ; for Hcraclitus,
the natural philosopher, speaks plainly enough of him, saying,

Pythagoras, the son of Moesarohus, was the most learned
of all men in history ; and lumDg selected from these vritiiigSt
he thus formed his own wisdom and ex^tensive learning, and
mischievous art." And he speaks thus, because Pythagoras,
in the beginning of his treatise on Natural Philosophy, writes
in the following raaner : " By the air which I breathe, and
by the water which 1 drink, I will not endure to be blamed
on account of this discourse."

And there are three volumes extant written by Pythagoras.

• This lesembles the aocooni which Orid putB into the mouth of
Fythflgorafly m the last book of hia Hetamor^OBea, where he makes
bmi Bay: —

Morto oarent anmue^ semperque priore relicta
Sede^ noYiB domibus habitant yiyantque recejitA;
Ipse ego, nam memini^ Trojani tempora belli,

Panthorides Euphorbus eram, cui pectore quondam
Hicsit in adverso gravis haata ininoria Atridffi ;
Aguovi Clypeum kcvae gestamina nostne
Nuper Abantete templo Joaonk in Argis.

Which may be translated : —

Death has no pow'r th' immortal soul to slay ;
That, when its present body turns to clay,
Seeks a fresh home, and with unminish'd might
Inspires another irame with life and light.
So I myaelf, (well I the part recall)
When the fierce Greeks beght Troy's holy wall,
Was brave Euphorbus ; and in conflict drear,
Poured forth my blood beneath Atrides* spear :
The shield this arm did bear I lately saw
In Juno's shrine, a trophy of that war.

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341

One on Eiucation ; one on Politics ; and one on Katural
Philosophy. But the treatise whi( h is now extant under the
name of Pythagoras is the work- of Lysis, of Tarentura, a
philosopher of the Pythagorean School, who fled to Thebes,
tfud became the master of Epaminondas. And Heradides,
the son of Sarapion, in his Abridgment of Sotion, says that
he wrote a poem in epic verse on the Universe ; and besides
that a sacred poem, which begins thus ; —

Dear youths, I warn you cherish peace divine,
And in your hearta lay deep these words of mine.

A third about the Soul ; a fourth on Piety ; a fifth entitled
Helothales, which was the name of the father of Epichaimus,
of Cos ; a sixth called Grotona, and other poems too. But
the mystic discourse which is extant under his name, they say
is really the work of Hippasus, having been composed with a
view to bring Pythagoras into disrepute. There were also
many other books composed by Aston, of Grotona, and attributed
to Pythagoras.

Aristoxenus asserts that Pythagoras derived tlie greater
part of his ethical doctnuo-i from Tbemistoclea, the priestess
at Delplii. And Ion, of Chios, in his Victoiies, says that he
wrote some poems and attributed them to Orpheus. They
also say that the poem called the Scopeadae is by him, which
begins thus : —

Behave not ahameleeflly to any ona

VI. And Sosicrates, in his Successions, relates that he,
having being asked hy Leon, the tyrant of the Phliasians, who
he was, replied, A philosopher/' And adds, that he used
to compare life to a festival. And as some people came to
a festival to contend for the prizes, and others for the purposes
of traffic, and the best as spectators ; so also in life, the men
of slavish dispositions," said he, are bom hunters after gloiy
and covetousness, but philosophers are seekers after truths"
And thus he spoke on diis subject. But in the three treatises
above mentioned, the following principles are laid down by
Pythagoras generally.

He forbids men to pray for anything in particular for them-
selves, because they do not know what is good for them. He
calls drunkenness an expresdon identical with ruin, and

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342 LIVES OF E]UN£NT P£IL0SOPH£B&

rejects all superfluity, saying, That no one ought to exceed
the proper quantity of meat and drink." And on the subject
of venereal pleasures, he speaks thus :— " One ought to sacri-
fice to Venus in the winter, not in the summer ; and in antoniB
and spring in a lesser degree. But the practice is pemieioas
at every season, and is n^ver good for the health." And once,
when he was asked when a man mig^t indulge in the pleasures
of loTO, he replied* WhenoTor you wish to be wei^er than
yourself/'

VII. And he divides the life <tf man thus. A boy for
twenty years; a young man (ndnwg) for twenty years; a
middle-aged man {vidvtaf) for twenty years ; an old man for
twenty years. And these difierent ages correspond proportion-
ably to the seasons: boyhood answers to ^ring; youth to
summer; middle age to autumn; and old age to winter. And
he uses ndttimog here as equivalent to fui^xiovf and navlng as
equivalent to &vii^.

VIII. He was the first person, as TimsBus says, who
asserted* that the property of finends is common, and that
friendship is equality. And his disciples used to put sll their
possessions together into one store, and use them in common ;
and for five years they kept silence, doing nothing hut listen
to discourses, and never once seeing Pythagoras, until they
were approved ; alter that time they were admitted into his
house, and allowed to see him. They also abstained finom the
use of cypress coffins, hecause the sceptre of Jupiter was made
of that wood, as Hermippus tells us in the second book of
his account of Pytliagoras.

IX. He is said to have heen a mm of the most dignified
appearance, and his disciples adopted an opinion respecting
him, that he was Apollo who had come from the H^-perbo*
reans ; and it is said, that once when he was stripped naked,
he was seen to have a golden thigh. And there were many
people who affirmed, that when he was crossm^ the river
Nessus it addressed him by his name.

X. Timreus, in the tenth book of his Histories, tells us,
that he used to say that women who were married to men
had the names of tlie Gods, being successively called virgins,
then nymphs, and subsequently mothers.

XI. It was Pythugoni-s also who carried geometry to per-
fection, after Moeris had tirst found out the principles of the

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PYTHAGORAS.

elements of that science, as Aristiclides tells us in the second
book of his History of Alexander ; and the part of the science
to whicli Pythagoras applied himself above all others was
arithmetic. He also discovered the numerical relation of
sounds on a single string: he also studied medicine. And
Apollodorus, the logician, records of him, that he sacrified a
hecatomb, when he had discovered that the square of the
hypothenuse of a right-angled triangle is equal to the squares
of the sides containing the right angle. And there is an
epigram which is couched in the following terms >—

When the great Samian sage his noble problem found,
A hundred oxen dyed with their life-blood the groimd.

XIL He is also said to iiSYe been the first man who
trained athletes on meat ; and Eurjmenes was the first man,
according to the statement of Phavorinns, in the third book of
bis Commentaries, who ever did submit to this diet, as before
that time men used to train themselves on dry figs snd
moist dieese, and wheaten bread ; as the Same Pbavorinus
in&rms us in the eighth b6bk of his Unitersal Histoty. But
some authors state, that a trainer of the name of Pythagoras
certainly did train his athletes on this system, but that it was
not our philosopher ; for that he even £>rbede men to hill
animals at all, much less would have allowed his disciples to
eat then, as having a right to live in common with mankind.
And this was his pretext ; but in reality, he prohibited the
eating of animals, because he wished to trun and accustom
men to simplicity of life, so that all their food should be easily'
procurable, as it would be, if they ate only such things as
required no fire to dress them, and if they drank plain water ;
for from this diet they would derive licalLh of body and
acuteness of intellect.

The only altar at which he worshipped was that of Apollo
the Father, at Delos, which is at the back of the altar of
Ceratiniis, because wheat, and barley, and cheese-cakes are
the uuly offerings laid upon it, being not dressed by lire ; and
no victini is ever slain there, as Aristotle tells us in his
Cunstitutiou of the Delians. They say, too, that he was tho
first person who assorted that the soul went a necessary circle^

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344 LIVES OF EMINENT PHILOSOPHERS.

being changed about and confined at different times in differ-
ent bodies.

XIII. He was also the first person who introduced mea-
sures and weights among the Greeks ; as Aristoxenus the
musician informs us.

XIV. Parmenides, too, assures us, that he was the first
person who asserted the identity of Hesperus and Lucifer.

XV. And he was so greatly admired, that they used to say-
that his Mends looked on all his sayings as the oracles of
GU)d.* And he himself aays in his writings, that he had come
among men after having spent two hundred and seven years
in the shades below. Therefore tlie Lucanians and the
Peucetians, and the Messapians, and the Eomans, flocked
aiound him, coming with eagerness to hear his discourses ;
but until the time of Philokus, there were no doctrines of
Pythagoras ever divulged ; and he was the first person who
published the three celebmted books which Plato wrote to
have purchased for him for a hundred mixm. Nor were the
number of his scholars who used to come to him hy night
fewer than six hundred. And if any of them had ever been
permitted to see him, they wrote of it to theur Mends, as if
th^ had gained some great advantage.

The people of Metapontum used to call his house the
temple of Ceres ; and the street leading to it they called the
street of the Muses, as we are told by Phavonnus in his
Universal History.

And the rest of the Pythagoreans used to say, according to
the account given by Aristoxenus, in the tentli book of his
Laws on Education, that his precepts ought not to be divulged
to all the world ; and Xenophilus, the Pythagorean, when he
was asked what was the best way for a man to educate his son,
said, *' That he must first of all take care that he was born in
a city which enjoyed good laws.*'

Pythagoras, too, formed many excellent men in Italy* by

* This passage has been interpreted in more ways than one. Casau-
bon thinks with great probability that there is a hiatus in the text. I
have endeavoured to extract a meaning out of what remains. Compare
Samuel ii. 16, 23. ''And the counsel of Ahitophel, which he counselled
in those days, wbb as if a man had Miquired at the oracle of Gkid ; so
mm all the oounml of Ahitophel boili with Daidd and witli Absalom."

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FYTHAQO&AS. 3d5

his precepts, and among them Zaleucus,* and Charonda8,t

the lawgivers.

XVI. For he was veiy eminent for his power of attracting
Mendships ; and among other things, if ever he heard that
any one had anjr communilj of symbols with him, he at once
made him a companion and a friend.

XVII. Now, what he called his symbols were such as these.
Do not stir the fire with a sword." " Do not sit down on a

bushel,*' ** Do not devour your heart'* " Do not aid men in
discarding a burden, but in increasing one.** Always have
your bed packed up.** Do not bear Oie image of a God on &
ling." Effiice the traces of a pot in the adies." Do not
wipe a seat with a lamp.** Do not make water in the sun-

* Zaleucus was the celebrated lawgiver of the Epizephyrian Locrians,
and is odd -to have been originaUjr a dare employed by a Bhepherd,
and to have been set firee and ap2>ointed lawgiver by the direetion of
an onele^ in consequence of his annonneing some excellent laws, whidk
he represented Minerva as having communicated to him in a dream.
Diogenes, is wrong however, in calling him a disciple of Pythagoras
(see Bentley on Phalaris), as he lived about a himdred years before his
time ; his true date being 660 B.O. The oode of Zaleacns Is stated to
have been the first collection of written laws that the Chreeks possessed.
Their character was that of great severity. They have not come down
to us. His death is said to have occurred thus. Among hiw laws was
one forbidding any citizen to enter the senate house in aruiH, imder
the penalty of death. But in a sudden emergency, Zaleucus himself, in
a momentof forgetftdnesd^ tnaugressedhdsown law : on which be dew
himself, declaring that he would vindicate his law. (Eustath. ad. H. i.
p. 60). Diodorus, however, tells the same story of Charondas.

f Charondas was a lawgiver of Catana, who legislated for his own
city and the other towns of Challidian origin in Magna Greeia, snrh as
Zaucle, Xaxos, Leontini, Euba;a, Myla:>, Himera, Callipoiia, and Khegium.
His laws have not been preeerved to ns, with the exception of a few
judgments. They were probably in verse, for Athennos says that they
were sung in Athens at banquets. Aristotle tells us that they were
adapted to an aristocracy. It is much doubted whether it is really
true that he was a disciple of Pythagoras, though we are not sure of
his exuct time, so that we cannot pronounce it as impossible as iu the
preceding cas& He must have lived before tiie time of Anazilaus, tyrant
of Rhegiuui, who reigned from B.C. 494 to b.c. 476, because he abolished
the laws of Charondas, which had previously been in force in that city.
Diodorus gives a code of laws which he states that Charondas gave to
the city of Thurii, which was not founded till B.C. 443, when he must
certainly have been dead a long time. There is one law of his pre-
served by Stobcras^ which is probably anthentiOt since it Is found m a
fragment of Theophrastos ; enacting that all' buying and selling shall
be transacted by ready money only.

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340 LIVES OF EMINENT FHIL080PHEB8.

shine." " Do not walk in the main stieet" " Do not o£fer
joiir right hand lightly." " Do not cherish swallows under
your roof.** " Do not cherish birds with crooked telons.** Do

not defile ; and do not stand upon the parings of your nails, or

the cuttings of your hair.** ** Avoid a sharp sword.** "When
you are travelling abroad, look not Lack at your o^vn borders.**
Now the precept not to stir fire with a sword meant, not to
provoke the anger or swelling pride of powerful men ; not to
violate the beam of the balance meant, not to transgress fair-
ness and justice ; not to sit on a bushel is to h

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